Underscores vs CamelCase

[Thesh]

But that's an easy choice for C++ because using lowercase_underscores for everything (even types) is almost as dumb and annoying as the .Net style of UpperCamel for everything (even methods).

.Net style is to usw lowerCamel for method parameters.

[Sinaelnikova]

I dont want to live on this planet anymore

[Nyktos]

Python standardized on underscores (with UpperCamelCase for classes) over a decade ago. There are a few prominent projects (Twisted and various Zope things) that use camel case, but those are all ancient.

Python's collections have the following types:

namedtuple
deque
Counter
OrderedDict
defaultdict

Thus showing two styles of type name in one module (neither of which is using underscores). Maybe the functions and variables are standardized on underscores, but if type names aren't consistent that still means the naming scheme is inconsistent.

The collections module is using older naming conventions.* If you look at more recently added stdlib modules, they use the convention I described, as do do the vast majority of popular third-party packages.

* It doesn't actually predate PEP 8 itself, though, as I'd assumed. I'm not sure why deque and defaultdict were named that way, but they were the first two things added to the module. namedtuple isn't actually a type.

[Mikemk]

iPreferThisStyle
whereTheFirstWordIsLowercase
andEverythingElseIsCamel

psIBetMyUsernameAnnoysThePeopleHere

[ahammel]

I'm not sure why deque and defaultdict were named that way, but they were the first two things added to the module. namedtuple isn't actually a type.

'defaultdict', 'deque', and 'namedtuple' are presumably named that way for consistency with the built-in 'dict', 'list', and 'tuple', which is a departure from convention I can live with.

[Derek]

iPreferThisStyle
whereTheFirstWordIsLowercase
andEverythingElseIsCamel

psIBetMyUsernameAnnoysThePeopleHere

I believe that's called lower camel case, with upper camel case starting with an uppercase letter. In Java and similar languages, types are in upper camel case and variables in lower camel case.

[ahammel]

I've always called them camelCase and StudlyCaps

[Xanthir]

I sometimes say that too, but "StudlyCase" is a stupid name, so I usually say "upper camel-case" instead.

[ahammel]

I sometimes say that too, but "StudlyCase" is a stupid name[...]

That's true, but if one were to look at it objectively, I think that one would have to conclude that camelCase, kebab-case, and SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE are also fairly stupid names. At least StudleyCase is in good company

[Derek]

Am I missing a joke with StudleyCase? I don't get that name.

[ahammel]

Am I missing a joke with StudleyCase? I don't get that name.

I too am unclear on the etymology.

[Xanthir]

Apparently even the Jargon File is unclear on the origin.

[chridd]

Apparently even the Jargon File is unclear on the origin.

It says the origin of the practice is obscure; it doesn't say anything about the etymology. And it seem to be talking about rAnDoM cAPiTAliZAtioN, rather than UpperCamelCase (which it calls BiCapitalization) (although I feel like I have at some point heard StudlyCaps or StudlyCase used to refer to UpperCamelCase).

[commodorejohn]

Yeah, I remember hearing "StudlyCaps" used back in the late '90s-early '00s, usually by Java zealots when contrasting their OneTrueNamingConvention with C's half-dozen assorted quasi-standards. No idea if that's actually where it originated, but it sounds like a late-'90s Internet coinage to me.

[You, sir, name?]

C++ code that does method names with UpperCamel style really just... I don't even comprehend why you would do such a thing.

Of all wrong things you could do, this is up there with re-animating the corpse of Hitler and electing him Litch Chancellor.

[commodorejohn]

That's how you tell that it's C++ written by someone who'd really rather be using Java.

[You, sir, name?]

I've never seen anyone do it in Java. I don't understand where it's coming from.

[Xenomortis]

C# does that.
As does the entire Win32 API?

[ConMan]

If you regularly code in R, then you separate words with periods, to make.other.programmers.cry

[heuristically_alone]

I, like Robert_Frost, prefer to take the road less taken, and that indeed has made all the difference.

[Derek]

I, like Robert_Frost, prefer to take the road less taken, and that indeed has made all the difference.

I assume by that you mean that it's gotten you fired from all your jobs.

[stopmadnessnow]

No Derek, because it's only one fork in the road. It's not necessarily an attitude problem that heuristically_alone has.

[Derek]

No Derek, because it's only one fork in the road. It's not necessarily an attitude problem that heuristically_alone has.

The problem is not one of attitude, but of coding style. Anyone who mixes camelcase with underscore in the same name deserves to be taken out back and shot!

[SuicideJunkie]

If you regularly code in R, then you separate words with periods, to make.other.programmers.cry

Is this what is known as "sentence structure"?


The best is/was SE5 script style. Take your camel case, add underscores, and prefix almost everything with sys_
EG: Sys_Add_Two_Integers()

I wrote a script to make a mod to wrap those functions with more sensibly named functions.

[jgh]

Typically sitting on the liberal fence, I use both:
net_Tx
net_TxCount
net_RxOpen
net_RxRead
phone_FromStr
phone_ToStr
reg_RdInt
reg_RdStr
etc.
Consistantly (component)_(subfunction)

[serutan]

I would have sworn that the FUBAR method of doing names was known as Hungarian Notation rather than CamelCase...

[commodorejohn]

Hungarian notation is a different and altogether weirder convention.

[pogrmman]

I hate camelCase, but I will use whatever complies with the style of the codebase and language I’m working on. For python, for instance, I use UpperCamelCase for classes and underscore_case for methods, but nowhere do I use camelCase.

The objectively superior one is clearly lispish-kebab-case though. You don’t ever have to press shift using a us keyboard layout, so it’s easier on the hands :p. kebab-case and underscore_case are both objectively easier to read than camelCase imo.

[gd1]

Underscores are more like normal language by using spaces. Machines don't care (maybe?) and comments exist, but it's nicer to read imo.