Thursday, April 23, 2009

On Naming

Good naming is the key to good design. Here is the best discussion of naming (in programming) that I have ever come across. It comes from a 1996 book called Smalltalk With Style. The authors have generously made their book freely available.

It takes a while to download, so here are the good bits (20 images). I'm a fan of Guideline 11: "Use predicate clauses or adjectives for Boolean objects or states". For example, motorRunning is a great name for a boolean field.





















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6 comments:

  1. sys.out4/24/2009 2:24 a.m.

    Nice recommendation.
    thanks
    Michele

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  2. Jonathan4/24/2009 5:51 p.m.

    You're welcome, Michele!

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  3. Jonathan4/25/2009 1:17 p.m.

    Beck and Cunningham say "searching for just the right words is a valuable use of time while designing". Amen!

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  4. Jonathan6/06/2009 5:07 p.m.

    Another good guide: http://journal.stuffwithstuff.com/2009/06/05/naming-things-in-code/

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  5. David Gelbart6/07/2009 11:23 a.m.

    Thanks John! I'll check it out.

    I also like the "Naming Classes" chapter starting on p.178 of the Hacknot book. You can download the free PDF version here

    http://www.lulu.com/content/517813

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  6. Jonathan6/07/2009 1:13 p.m.

    Thanks, David—Hacknot looks interesting

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