How do you document and communicate your A++ encapsulation decisions and conventions?

1 Choose meaningful names

One of the simplest and most effective ways to document and communicate your A++ encapsulation decisions and conventions is to choose meaningful and consistent names for your classes, methods, variables, and constants. Names should reflect the purpose, functionality, and scope of the elements they represent, and follow the naming conventions of the A++ standard or your project guidelines. For example, use camelCase for variables and methods, PascalCase for classes and constants, and underscore_prefix for private or protected members.

2 Use comments and documentation

Another way to document and communicate your A++ encapsulation decisions and conventions is to use comments and documentation tools. Comments are short notes or explanations that you insert in your code to describe what it does, why it does it, and how it does it. Documentation tools are external applications or libraries that generate formatted and structured documentation from your code and comments, such as Doxygen or Sphinx. You should use comments and documentation to explain the design, logic, and usage of your classes and their members, especially the public interface that other developers or users will interact with.

3 Apply access modifiers

A third way to document and communicate your A++ encapsulation decisions and conventions is to apply access modifiers to your classes and their members. Access modifiers are keywords that specify the level of access or visibility that a class or a member has from other parts of the code. In A++, there are three access modifiers: public, protected, and private. Public means that the class or member can be accessed from anywhere, protected means that it can be accessed only from within the class or its derived classes, and private means that it can be accessed only from within the class. You should use access modifiers to indicate which members are part of the public interface, which are inherited by subclasses, and which are hidden from the outside world.

4 Use getters and setters

A fourth way to document and communicate your A++ encapsulation decisions and conventions is to use getters and setters for your class attributes. Getters and setters are methods that allow you to access and modify the values of your attributes without directly exposing them to the outside world. They provide a layer of abstraction and control over your data, and enable you to implement validation, error handling, or other logic when accessing or modifying your attributes. For example, you can use getters and setters to enforce encapsulation rules, such as making an attribute read-only, or limiting its range of values.

5 Follow design patterns

A fifth way to document and communicate your A++ encapsulation decisions and conventions is to follow design patterns. Design patterns are proven solutions to common problems or challenges in software design that provide a standard and consistent way of structuring, organizing, and communicating your code. They help you avoid reinventing the wheel, improve code quality, and facilitate collaboration and understanding among developers. For example, you can use design patterns to implement encapsulation concepts, such as abstraction, inheritance, polymorphism, or composition.

6 Use UML diagrams

A sixth way to document and communicate your A++ encapsulation decisions and conventions is to use UML diagrams. UML stands for Unified Modeling Language, and it is a graphical notation that helps you visualize, model, and document the structure, behavior, and interactions of your classes and objects. UML diagrams can help you communicate your encapsulation decisions and conventions by showing the relationships, dependencies, and collaborations among your classes, as well as their attributes, methods, and access modifiers. For example, you can use UML diagrams to illustrate the class hierarchy, the interface inheritance, or the composition of your classes.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?