this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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Does anyone have any good advice on variable naming? Here's some of my rules I try to live by:
utils_FooBar
is
not
in bool names._
g_VARIABLENAME
calc_ImportantValueThatWillDecideTheUsersView
is better thancalc_SumYears
if the variable is more important than the others.Edit: I realize I was speaking about function-naming with the prefix stuff.
For variables, I still use prefixes, but for variable type. Even if you define the variables as types, it's still incredibly useful. For instance,
a string is
s_MyName
,enumerable is
e_MyType
,A number is int or double or whatever
i_MyAge
ord_MyWeight
This might be obvious for custom objects, but I'd still do it like this
p_Person
orper_Person
.Seriously it does make a huge difference
I have to disagree on some points, but I def feel like you're helping me learn, so for that I am grateful.
I feel like you're speaking from the perspective of a perfect coding environment, which if you have that, that's great. Maybe all your code is in one place, maybe you have an IDE that does a lot of the work for you, and that's great. However, for most of us, that's rarely the case.
Prefixes have been an absolute game changer for me personally, and I will never not use them again.
I have also found that verbosity of variable name and readability are mutually exclusive. A long variable name, most of the time, takes away from the logic. Yes, they are "free" as far as memory, but are very expensive to reliability.
Units tests, again are great, but most places think unit tests are like golden toilets. It sucks, but that's the way it is. Usually you're given a task, and if it's not done next week, maybe you're not as good as they thought.
Not sure if you're trolling or serious.
Sorry, I'm serious. These are things I have picked up from 18 years in the industry.
Let me comment some of it then ...
Highly depends on your environment, your naming convention, etc.
In modern day programming the file names are pretty much irrelevant. All somewhat recent programming languages have modules and namespaces. I don't care in what file
fooBar
was defined. ALso: what happens if you refactor stuff and rename the file? Do you want to go through everything where the function is mentioned? (This can be automated, though, but still.)Or with whatever is the naming convention you or your team follows. I do embedded scripting and one of the projects explicitly wants
can_verb_thing
when it comes to user permissions (can_change_foobar
,can_run_baz
, etc.). It is a good advice but heavily depends on your environment.Paraphrasing the naming convention I mostly work with: Start everything with
_
that will be exported to global namespace. Also use the name of your module. Instead offoobar
use_mymodule_foobar
.Globals should be properly namespaced to global context. constants are uppercase.
And
summarizeYears
is even better. Do not use abbreviations and describe what the function does. If it summarizes the years there is no need to name it something else. Document your code (in-code documentation as well as user-facing documentation if applicable).I appreciate your emacs perspective, thanks for the input.
I get the sense that programmerhumor hates prefixes, but I'm telling you, they have changed my life. Next project-for-fun, just give it a try and see what happens. I think you'll be surprised.
To many of your points, I say I agree that a lot of naming conventions depend on context. The environment you're working in, the IDE, the team you're working on, the language you're coding in.
However, prefixes I'm firm on. I think it's unpopular because it's from a bygone era where IDEs were non-existent. And while yes, ides have replaced many of the uses, they have been the most radical change to my readability and comprehension of the code I've written.
Also, I'm mostly a js programmer, so yes, very different from emacs.
Also, for calc_SumYears, I literally meant to add the years together, hense the prefix. So, maybe the prefixes are a little more useful than you give them credit.
Camel case for local variables
Pascal case for global ones
The name should tell me it's purpose
That's it
Right?! People out here are writing a bible on how to name variables lmao
Yeah I bet they feel so good about having the perfect recipe for naming variables, a recipe only they know or care about
I might be already exposing myself as an emacs user, but I think Lisp naming convention is pretty reasonable. I use it in other languages as far as their language rules allow me
if a variable or function is a predicate (as in if it tests if something is true or not), append
p
or_p
/-p
variables and functions both have lisp case
variable-name-here
. Sub for_
in languages that dont allow-
in namesunused or unexposed variables are prefixed
_
.top level packages get naming rights. So if I'm making
cool-package
then variables or functions that are specific to it arecool-package-variable
(especially if it is exposed to other packages).cool-package/variable
is also good if allowed.otherwise, separate namespaces with
/
. So there'smain-function
andmy/main-function
. If/
is reserved, then I assume the language has a way of segmenting namespaces already and just default to that since_
or-
would get ambiguous here.See the rest here: https://github.com/bbatsov/emacs-lisp-style-guide