Difference between revisions of "Naming convention (programming)"

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(etc)
(On the difficulty of naming things)
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This quote (much-repeated-with-variations) may misquoted or mis-attributed.  (See [http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TwoHardThings.html TwoHardThings] by Martin Fowler.)
 
This quote (much-repeated-with-variations) may misquoted or mis-attributed.  (See [http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TwoHardThings.html TwoHardThings] by Martin Fowler.)
  
Nonetheless, it expresses fundamental truths:
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== Wider usage ==
 
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* Naming things is essential to computer programming
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* It's hard to do well
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* It's easy to feel that you could do better if you worked harder
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** Thus your work is never really done
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The term [[naming convention]] has a similar meaning in other fields.
 
The term [[naming convention]] has a similar meaning in other fields.

Revision as of 08:04, 18 August 2015

In computer programming, a naming convention is a set of rules for choosing the character sequence to be used for identifiers which denote variables, types, functions, and other entities in source code and software documentation.

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