api-guidelines

A comprehensive Rust library providing structured enums and utilities for the official Rust API Guidelines. This crate helps developers follow Rust best practices by providing programmatic access to API design principles.

Overview

This library implements the complete Rust API Guidelines as structured enums, making it easier to:

• Reference specific guidelines in code
• Build linting tools and code analyzers
• Document API design decisions
• Ensure code quality and consistency
• Create educational materials and examples
• Generate API documentation with guideline references

Installation

Add this to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]

api-guidelines = "0.1.0"

Quick Start

use api_guidelines::{Naming, Interoperability, Predictability, Flexibility};

fn main() {
    // Reference naming conventions
    let naming_convention = Naming::C_CASE;
    let conversion_guideline = Naming::C_CONV;

    // Reference interoperability guidelines
    let common_traits = Interoperability::C_COMMON_TRAITS;
    let conversion_traits = Interoperability::C_CONV_TRAITS;

    // Reference predictability guidelines
    let smart_ptr_guideline = Predictability::C_SMART_PTR;
    let constructor_guideline = Predictability::C_CTOR;

    // Use in documentation or tooling
    println!("Following guideline: {:?}", naming_convention);
    println!("Following guideline: {:?}", conversion_traits);
    println!("Following guideline: {:?}", smart_ptr_guideline);
}

Available Guidelines

Naming Conventions

• C_CASE - Casing conventions (UpperCamelCase vs snake_case)
• C_CONV - Conversion method naming (as_, to_, into_)
• C_GETTER - Getter naming conventions
• C_ITER - Iterator method naming
• C_ITER_TY - Iterator type naming
• C_FEATURE - Feature naming conventions
• C_WORD_ORDER - Consistent word order

Interoperability

• C_COMMON_TRAITS - Common trait implementations
• C_CONV_TRAITS - Standard conversion traits
• C_COLLECT - FromIterator and Extend implementations
• C_SERDE - Serde serialization support
• C_SEND_SYNC - Send and Sync implementations
• C_GOOD_ERR - Error type best practices
• C_NUM_FMT - Number formatting traits
• C_RW_VALUE - Reader/Writer function parameters

Predictability

• C_SMART_PTR - Smart pointers don't add inherent methods
• C_CONV_SPECIFIC - Conversions live on the most specific type
• C_METHOD - Functions with clear receivers are methods
• C_NO_OUT - Functions don't take out-parameters
• C_OVERLOAD - Operator overloads are unsurprising
• C_DEREF - Only smart pointers implement Deref and DerefMut
• C_CTOR - Constructors are static, inherent methods

Flexibility

• C_INTERMEDIATE - Functions expose intermediate results
• C_CALLER_CONTROL - Caller decides where to copy and place data
• C_GENERIC - Functions minimize assumptions using generics
• C_OBJECT - Traits are object-safe if useful as trait objects

Type Safety

• C_NEWTYPE - Newtypes provide static distinctions
• C_CUSTOM_TYPE - Arguments convey meaning through types
• C_BITFLAG - Types for flags are bitflags, not enums
• C_BUILDER - Builders enable construction of complex values

Dependability

• C_VALIDATE - Functions validate their arguments
• C_DTOR_FAIL - Destructors never fail
• C_DTOR_BLOCK - Destructors that may block have alternatives

Debuggability

• C_DEBUG - All public types implement Debug
• C_DEBUG_NONEMPTY - Debug representation is never empty

Future Proofing

• C_SEALED - Sealed traits protect against downstream implementations
• C_STRUCT_PRIVATE - Structs have private fields
• C_NEWTYPE_HIDE - Newtypes encapsulate implementation details
• C_STRUCT_BOUNDS - Data structures don't duplicate derived trait bounds

Necessities

• C_STABLE - Public dependencies of stable crates are stable
• C_PERMISSIVE - Crate and dependencies have permissive license

Documentation

• C_CRATE_DOC - Crate level docs are thorough with examples
• C_EXAMPLE - All items have rustdoc examples
• C_QUESTION_MARK - Examples use ?, not try!, not unwrap
• C_FAILURE - Function docs include error, panic, and safety considerations
• C_LINK - Prose contains hyperlinks to relevant things
• C_METADATA - Cargo.toml includes all common metadata
• C_RELNOTES - Release notes document all significant changes
• C_HIDDEN - Rustdoc doesn't show unhelpful implementation details

Macros

• C_EVOCATIVE - Input syntax is evocative of the output
• C_MACRO_ATTR - Item macros compose well with attributes
• C_ANYWHERE - Item macros work anywhere items are allowed
• C_MACRO_VIS - Item macros support visibility specifiers
• C_MACRO_TY - Type fragments are flexible

Documentation

Full documentation is available at docs.rs/api-guidelines.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit pull requests or open issues.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Based on the official Rust API Guidelines