Home

Code standards and templates

Important

These standards have been developed for internal use within the ABMI Science Centre.

The purpose of these guidelines is to promote consistency and reproducibility across Science Centre projects, making collaboration and review easier. That said, every project is unique. If you adjust the structure, please note the changes and your reasoning so they’re clear to others.

This wiki outlines best practices for writing reproducible code and structuring project directories. The goal is to provide standards that improve collaboration, streamline code reviews, and make it easier to revisit past work.

Why use these standards?

1. Sharing work with colleagues
   Standardized templates and code conventions ensure that collaborators can easily understand, run, and build upon your work.
2. In-house review of your work
   A well-organized, reproducible codebase makes internal reviews easier. Team members or supervisors can quickly grasp your methods and results by examining the code, making it easier to identify and troubleshoot any issues.
3. Sharing work with your future self
   Revisiting old projects is easier when everything is well-documented and logically structured. This reduces the learning curve when returning to a project after time away.

While the examples provided are focused on R, the basic principles apply to any coding language. Clear documentation, structured file organization, and consistent coding styles enhance reproducibility and collaboration across different programming environments.

Start here:

• Script Templates – starter files to apply the standards quickly
• Code Style – naming, formatting, and autostyling
• Documenting Code – headers, sections, and setup
• Documenting Functions – function docs and structure
• Project Directory Structure – recommended folders and usage
• Code Review – rubric and checklist
• ABMI GitHub Policy – visibility, naming, topics, pages