Unify @NonNull and @Override annotation position

[marsboy02]

Testing done

• Ran automated tests on all modified lines to ensure that functionality is preserved with the new annotation order.

Proposed changelog entries

• In this PR, we standardize the use of @nonnull and @OverRide annotations, placing @nonnull above @OverRide as it emphasizes the null-safety aspect of the method, which is crucial for our codebase's stability. This change enhances the readability and clarity for developers, highlighting null-safety constraints first, followed by the overridden method status.

Proposed upgrade guidelines

N/A

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[basil]

True, it could be argued that null-safety annotations have more importance than override annotations, but how is one to objectively judge the importance of annotations relative to each other in the general case? This seems fairly subjective. Furthermore, how is a developer adding a new annotation going to know that the convention for annotation ordering is importance? This is far from obvious. Simpler to sort alphabetically, which is both obvious and objective.

[marsboy02]

Looking at my PR now, I realize it lacked solid reasoning. Actually, I noticed some unusual behavior with the default value of the multi-line parameter in Jenkins, which led me to inspect the model directory.

During this process, I observed that in most cases, the @nonnull annotation was placed above other annotations. Therefore, I adjusted the small number of inconsistent cases to follow this pattern. My reasoning was that it is generally preferable to place validation-related annotations, like @nonnull, first, as they indicate logic constraints, while @OverRide is simply a metadata annotation.

Going back, just as I initially reviewed the Jenkins repository for conventions before adding annotations, I was referencing other files to ensure consistency. While doing so, I noticed the variation in annotation placement and ended up standardizing the few outliers. After receiving your feedback, I looked into Java annotation conventions and other open-source projects. I found no universally established rule, with each open-source project applying its own annotation style.

Could you please provide further feedback on this reasoning? If you think this is unsuitable, I’ll tidy up the PR accordingly. Thank you! @basil

[basil]

This response does not actually address any of the points I made in my previous post. If a convention is to be established, then it should be both obvious and objective, which alphabetical sorting accomplishes. The current PR is both subjective (since there is no simple objective measurement for annotation importance) and not obvious to a new contributor.