Notes-Naming Convention

CamelCase Convention

• use the camelCase convention for every identifier name you create.
• What is the camelCase convention?
  • the words are joined together -- no spaces between the words
  • each word after the first begins with an uppercase letter
  • Examples: isVisible, firstName, getFirstName, setFinalMark

Length of identifiers

• should be short yet meaningful -- names should not be overly long
• abbreviations should be avoided
• all identifiers must start with a letter
• avoid special characters -- use letters and numbers only

Naming Variables, Fields -- Attributes

• begin with a lowercase letter
• use camelCase convention, except with CONSTANTS
• variable name should describe the data that they hold
• one character names can be used for temporary throwaway variables. i,j,k,l for integers, c, d and e for characters

Constants

• type in all uppercase letters
• use the underscore to deliminate words. i.e. MAX_NUMBER
• constants once set never change

Naming Methods, Procedures and Functions -- Actions

• use a verb
• use "set", "get" and "is" as a preface to method names to indicate the type of action performed on a specific attribute
• method name should describe the action that the method will perform
• start with a lower case letter, except the constructor method,
• in Java, the constructor method starts with a upper case letter
• in Java, a constructor method MUST have the same name as the class.

Naming Classes

• begin with an uppercase letter
• use nouns that are simple and descriptive
• use the whole word, avoid abbreviation unless the abbreviation is commonly used min, max, URL

Naming GUI elements