Naming convention (programming)

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.

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).

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.)

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