# How to contribute

We welcome contributions! However, we do have some requests on how contributions
should be done. Please read them in order to avoid surprises down the road.

## Choosing something to work on

The issue tracker of each project has a list of items that you can start
working on:

* **Features**. Those are issues marked as 'enhancement'.

* **Bugs**. Those are issues marked as 'bug'.

In order to avoid overlap, it's always a good idea to comment on the item and
let everybody know that you want to work on it.

## Creating a pull request

1. Make sure that there is a corresponding issue for your change first. If there
   is none, create one.
2. Create a fork in GitHub
3. Create a branch off the `master` branch. Name it something that that makes
   sense, such as `issue-123`.
4. Commit your changes and push your changes to GitHub
5. Create a pull request against our `master` branch

## DOs and DON'Ts

* **DO** follow our coding style (see below)
* **DON'T** surprise us with big pull requests. Instead, file an issue and start
  a discussion so we can agree on a direction before you invest a large amount
  of time.
* **DO** include tests when adding new features. When fixing bugs, start with
  adding a test that highlights how the current behavior is broken.
* **DO** keep the discussions focused. When a new or related topic comes up
  it's often better to create new issue than to side track the discussion.

## C# Coding Style

The general rule we follow is "use Visual Studio defaults".

1. We use Allman style braces
2. We use four spaces of indentation (no tabs)
3. We use "_camelCase" private members and use "readonly" where possible
4. We avoid `this.` unless absolutely necessary
5. We always specify the visiblity, even if it's the default (i.e.
   `private string _foo` not `string _foo`)
6. Namespace imports should be specified at the top of the file, *outside* of
   `namespace` declarations and should be sorted alphabetically, with `System.`
   namespaces at the top and blank lines between different top level groups

### Example File:

```C#
using System.Aardvarks;
using System.IO;
using System.Zebras;

using Microsoft.CoolStuff;
using Microsoft.CoolStuff.Build;

using Zebra.Crossing;

namespace System.More.AndMore
{
    public class MyClass
    {
        private readonly IAbstraction _something;

        public MyClass(IAbstraction something)
        {
            _something = something;
        }

        public IAbstraction SomethingService
        {
            get { return _something; }
        }
    }
}
```