doc: add basic C++ style guide

Ideally, most of these things would be enforced via linter rules.
This is a first step into having a style guide that goes beyond
what the linter currently enforces.

PR-URL: nodejs#16090
Fixes: nodejs#12636
Reviewed-By: Refael Ackermann <refack@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: Ben Noordhuis <info@bnoordhuis.nl>
Reviewed-By: Daniel Bevenius <daniel.bevenius@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: James M Snell <jasnell@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: Timothy Gu <timothygu99@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: Colin Ihrig <cjihrig@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: Tobias Nießen <tniessen@tnie.de>
Reviewed-By: Michael Dawson <michael_dawson@ca.ibm.com>

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -282,6 +282,9 @@ should follow the [Style Guide](doc/STYLE_GUIDE.md). Code samples included
 in the API docs will also be checked when running `make lint` (or
 `vcbuild.bat lint` on Windows).
 
+For contributing C++ code, you may want to look at the
+[C++ Style Guide](CPP_STYLE_GUIDE.md).
+
 #### Step 4: Commit
 
 It is a recommended best practice to keep your changes as logically grouped

CPP_STYLE_GUIDE.md

@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+# C++ Style Guide
+
+Unfortunately, the C++ linter (based on
+[Google’s `cpplint`](https://github.com/google/styleguide)), which can be run
+explicitly via `make lint-cpp`, does not currently catch a lot of rules that are
+specific to the Node.js C++ code base. This document explains the most common of
+these rules:
+
+## Left-leaning (C++ style) asterisks for pointer declarations
+
+`char* buffer;` instead of `char *buffer;`
+
+## 2 spaces of indentation for blocks or bodies of conditionals
+
+```c++
+if (foo)
+  bar();
+```
+
+or
+
+```c++
+if (foo) {
+  bar();
+  baz();
+}
+```
+
+Braces are optional if the statement body only has one line.
+
+`namespace`s receive no indentation on their own.
+
+## 4 spaces of indentation for statement continuations
+
+```c++
+VeryLongTypeName very_long_result = SomeValueWithAVeryLongName +
+    SomeOtherValueWithAVeryLongName;
+```
+
+Operators are before the line break in these cases.
+
+## Align function arguments vertically
+
+```c++
+void FunctionWithAVeryLongName(int parameter_with_a_very_long_name,
+                               double other_parameter_with_a_very_long_name,
+                               ...);
+```
+
+If that doesn’t work, break after the `(` and use 4 spaces of indentation:
+
+```c++
+void FunctionWithAReallyReallyReallyLongNameSeriouslyStopIt(
+    int okay_there_is_no_space_left_in_the_previous_line,
+    ...);
+```
+
+## Initialization lists
+
+Long initialization lists are formatted like this:
+
+```c++
+HandleWrap::HandleWrap(Environment* env,
+                       Local<Object> object,
+                       uv_handle_t* handle,
+                       AsyncWrap::ProviderType provider)
+    : AsyncWrap(env, object, provider),
+      state_(kInitialized),
+      handle_(handle) {
+```
+
+## CamelCase for methods, functions and classes
+
+Exceptions are simple getters/setters, which are named `property_name()` and
+`set_property_name()`, respectively.
+
+```c++
+class FooBar {
+ public:
+  void DoSomething();
+  static void DoSomethingButItsStaticInstead();
+
+  void set_foo_flag(int flag_value);
+  int foo_flag() const;  // Use const-correctness whenever possible.
+};
+```
+
+## snake\_case for local variables and parameters
+
+```c++
+int FunctionThatDoesSomething(const char* important_string) {
+  const char* pointer_into_string = important_string;
+}
+```
+
+## snake\_case\_ for private class fields
+
+```c++
+class Foo {
+ private:
+  int counter_ = 0;
+};
+```
+
+## Space after `template`
+
+```c++
+template <typename T>
+class FancyContainer {
+ ...
+}
+```
+
+## Type casting
+
+- Always avoid C-style casts (`(type)value`)
+- `dynamic_cast` does not work because RTTI is not enabled
+- Use `static_cast` for casting whenever it works
+- `reinterpret_cast` is okay if `static_cast` is not appropriate
+
+## Memory allocation
+
+- `Malloc()`, `Calloc()`, etc. from `util.h` abort in Out-of-Memory situations
+- `UncheckedMalloc()`, etc. return `nullptr` in OOM situations
+
+## `nullptr` instead of `NULL` or `0`
+
+What it says in the title.
+
+## Avoid throwing JavaScript errors in nested C++ methods
+
+If you need to throw JavaScript errors from a C++ binding method, try to do it
+at the top level and not inside of nested calls.
+
+A lot of code inside Node.js is written so that typechecking etc. is performed
+in JavaScript.
+
+Using C++ `throw` is not allowed.