From 68fc4ede6a57061c56b30d7c9da0ef469552aaf1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Denys Otrishko Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2020 23:02:03 +0300 Subject: [PATCH] doc: add note regarding file structure in src/README.md MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Refs: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/34944#discussion_r480321239 Co-authored-by: Anna Henningsen PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/35000 Reviewed-By: Anna Henningsen Reviewed-By: Juan José Arboleda Reviewed-By: Gireesh Punathil --- src/README.md | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 24 insertions(+) diff --git a/src/README.md b/src/README.md index 3289eec27ff8de..2be97e28b8fbea 100644 --- a/src/README.md +++ b/src/README.md @@ -38,6 +38,30 @@ the [event loop][] and other operation system abstractions to Node.js. There is a [reference documentation for the libuv API][]. +## File structure + +The Node.js C++ files follow this structure: + +The `.h` header files contain declarations, and sometimes definitions that don’t +require including other headers (e.g. getters, setters, etc.). They should only +include other `.h` header files and nothing else. + +The `-inl.h` header files contain definitions of inline functions from the +corresponding `.h` header file (e.g. functions marked `inline` in the +declaration or `template` functions). They always include the corresponding +`.h` header file, and can include other `.h` and `-inl.h` header files as +needed. It is not mandatory to split out the definitions from the `.h` file +into an `-inl.h` file, but it becomes necessary when there are multiple +definitions and contents of other `-inl.h` files start being used. Therefore, it +is recommended to split a `-inl.h` file when inline functions become longer than +a few lines to keep the corresponding `.h` file readable and clean. All visible +definitions from the `-inl.h` file should be declared in the corresponding `.h` +header file. + +The `.cc` files contain definitions of non-inline functions from the +corresponding `.h` header file. They always include the corresponding `.h` +header file, and can include other `.h` and `-inl.h` header files as needed. + ## Helpful concepts A number of concepts are involved in putting together Node.js on top of V8 and