JafTalks

“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names” – Chinese Proverb

“Meaningful” is the keyword in naming. By meaningful names, I mean concise names that accurately describe the variable, method or object.

In this article of my series software coding standards we'll see how this would be in C#:

Namespaces – Names should be meaningful and complete. Indicate your company or name, product and then your utility. Do not abbreviate.

//Good
namespace CompanyName.ProductName.Utility

//Bad namespace CN.PROD.UTIL

Classes – Class names should always be a noun and, again, should be meaningful. Avoid verbs.

//Good
class Image
{
    …
}

class Filters
{
    …
}

//Bad
class Act
{
    …
}

class Enhance
{
    …
}

Methods – Always use a verb-noun pair, unless the method operates on its containing class, in which case, use just a verb.

//Good
public void InitializePath();
public void GetPath();
public void ShowChanges();
public void System.Windows.Forms.Form.Show();

//Bad
public void Path();
public void Changes();

Methods with return values – The name should reflect the return value.

//Good
public int GetImageWidth(Bitmap image);

//Bad
public int GetDimensions(Bitmap image);

Variables – Do not abbreviate variable names. Variable names should again be descriptive and meaningful.

//Good
int customerCount = 0;
int index = 0;
string temp = “”;

//Bad
int cc = 0;
int i = 0;
string t = “”;

Private member variables – Prefix class member variables with m_.

public class Image
{
    private int m_initialWidth;
    private string m_filename;
…
}

Interfaces – Prefix all interface names with I. Use a name that reflects an interface’s capabilities, either a general noun or an “-able”.

interface IClock
{
    DateTime Time { get; set; }
    …
}

interface IAlarmClock : IClock
{
    void Ring();
    DateTime AlarmTime { get; set; }
    …
}

interface IDisposable
{
    void Dispose();
}

interface IEnumerable
{
    IEnumerator GetEnumerator();
}       

Custom attributes – Suffix all attribute class names with Attribute. The C# compiler recognizes this and allows you to omit it when using it.

public class IsTestedAttribute : Attribute
{
    public override string ToString()
    {
        return “Is Tested”;
    }
}
//”Attribute” suffix can be omitted
[IsTested]
public void Ring();

Custom exceptions – Suffix all custom exception names with Exception.

public class UserNotExistentException :
System.ApplicationException
{
    …
}

Delegates – Suffix all event handlers with Handler; suffix everything else with Delegate.

public delegate void ImageChangedHandler();
public delegate string StringMethodDelegate();

Database Object Naming

Database objects should follow the same concept in naming the objects

• Views should have the prefix “vw_”
• Stored Procedures should have the prefix “sp_”
• Triggers should have the prefix “trg_”