ns Code Styles

We recommend the following coding guidelines for ns

Indentation style

We recommend using the BSD Kernel Normal Form coding style located at http://cvsweb.netbsd.org/bsdweb.cgi/sharesrc/share/misc/style?rev=HEAD&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup
Although KNF is specified for C, it also applies reasonably well to C++ and Tcl. Most of ns already follows KNF and it is also extensively used for the BSD and Linux kernels.
The high order bit is 8-space indents. Using 8-space indents avoid confusion about what a "tab" character represents. A downside is it makes deeply nested looping structures hard to fit in 80 columns. (Some people consider this a feature. :-)

Instance variables of a class should all end in an underscore. This helps distinguish instance variables from global and local variables.
C++ and Tcl bound variables should have the same names This helps identify the bound variables quickly and reduces complexity

Avoid the use of C++ templates. Ns is supported on multiple platforms and templates are not very portable and are often difficult to debug. Exception: This guideline has been relaxed for some imported code, but the core of ns should build and run without templates.
For NsObjects, use the debug_ instance variable to enable debugging functionality. This avoids repetitive definations of debug statements and allows debugging a particular Nsobject without recompilation.
Example:
To enable debugging in Queue object include the following statement in your tcl script.
```
	Queue set debug_ true
```
Debugging statments can be inserted in the classes inheriting from Queue as follows:
```
	debug("This is a debug statement %d",variable_to_debug);
```
All debugging statements are sent to stdout.
Error messages which cause the program to exit should be sent to stderr. All other messages should be sent to stdout