Difference between revisions of "Naming convention (programming)"

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Naming conventions are useful when choosing the [[character sequence]] to be used for [[Identifier|identifiers]] which denote:
 
Naming conventions are useful when choosing the [[character sequence]] to be used for [[Identifier|identifiers]] which denote:
  
* [[Variable (computer science)|variables]]
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* [[Variable (computer science)|Variables]]
* [[Data type|Data types
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* [[Data type|Data types]]
 
* [[Function (computer science)|functions]]
 
* [[Function (computer science)|functions]]
 
* Other entities in [[source code]] and [[Software documentation|software documentation]].
 
* Other entities in [[source code]] and [[Software documentation|software documentation]].
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* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_convention_(programming) Naming convention (programming)] @ Wikipedia
 
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_convention_(programming) Naming convention (programming)] @ Wikipedia
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Latest revision as of 05:48, 25 April 2016

In computer programming, a naming convention is a set of rules for choosing names. For more general usage, see Naming convention.

Description

Naming conventions are useful when choosing the character sequence to be used for identifiers which denote:

Description

Reasons for using a naming convention (as opposed to allowing programmers to choose any character sequence) include:

  • To reduce the effort needed to read and understand source code
  • To enable code reviews be able to focus on more important issues than arguing over syntax and naming standards.
  • To enable code quality review tools be able to focus their reporting mainly on significant issues other than syntax and style preferences.
  • To enhance source code appearance (for example, by disallowing overly long names or unclear abbreviations).

On the difficulty of naming things

There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things.

-- Phil Karlton

This quote (much-repeated-with-variations) may misquoted or mis-attributed. (See TwoHardThings by Martin Fowler.)

Wider usage

The term naming convention has a similar meaning in other fields.

See also

External links