Naming Is Hard

Names exist outside your code

• Headings on reports
• Emails
• Prompts
• Human conversations about the system

Use the same words/names in all contexts

• Everyone should call things by their proper names, everywhere

Don’t use the same words for different things

• Be arbitrary: a certification expires but a coupon becomes invalid
• Then stick to it

Don’t Invent Business Words

• Naming pieces of a function is hard
• Avoid pre/post and other “dependent” names
• Unless the business uses them
• Prefer single English words like Save or Location to implementation-focused words like UpdateConfigFile or StorageCoOrdinates

Don’t Mismatch Natural Pairs

• Begin goes with end, not last (last goes with first)
• Create goes with destroy, not cleanup
• Open goes with close, not release
• Next goes with previous, not rewind
• Put goes with get, not retrieve
• Source goes with destination, not target

Some Heuristics for Functions

• Verbs Help Functions Make Sense
• Order Matters
• Tools Matter
  • If similar functions all start the same
  • They are listed together in IDEs that show alphabetical lists of functions
  • They may be sorted together by tidiers that do so
  • You may have to type more of them before you can autocomplete
• Parameters
  • They are local variables in the function scope, so you name them with that in mind
  • Never shadow member variables, but please also don’t argx
  • They are cues to the function caller - Never omit them in headers

Classes Are Nouns

• Anything ending in er (et al) is suspect without a noun
• Don’t overdecorate - Prefixes such as project names are clutter
• Don’t list the contents

Traditional Member Function Names

• If you put real work in a constructor or a destructor, others will know when it happens
• We recognize get/set for better or worse

Some Heuristics for Local Variables

• Rarely, Shorter is Better
• Most of the Time, Longer is Better
• Focus on the purpose of the variable, not what it holds
• Consider the greppers
• Abbreviations are generally bad

Some Heuristics for Templates

• If you write a templated function, it’s a function, so use those approaches
• If you write a templated class, it’s a class, so use those approaches
• Typename Names:
  • Only one? T
  • Two? Please be meaningful

Better Naming

• Care about the code you write, and the people who will read it
• Think about the purposes functions, classes etc serve and how they are used
• Don’t be paralyzed by being unable to name something at first
• Demand good names from yourself and those around you
• When you learn what something is, fix its name
• When you change what something is, change its name
• Use consistency and story telling to guide your choices

Reference

• Naming is Hard: Let’s Do Better - Kate Gregory