Perl Style: On the Naming of Names (Content)

Jan 1, 1998 by Tom Christiansen

• `Procedure names should reflect what they do; function names should reflect what they return.’ –Rob Pike.

• Name objects so that they read well in English. For example, predicate functions should usually be named with `is’, `does’, `can’, or `has’. Thus, &is_ready is better than &ready for the same function,

• Therefore, &canonize as a void function (procedure), &canonical_version as a value-returning function, and &is_canonical for a boolean check.

• The &abc2xyz and &abc_to_xyz forms are also well established for conversion functions or hash mappings.

• Hashes usually express some property of the keys, and are used with the English word `of’ or the possessive form. Name hashes for their values, not their keys.

     GOOD:
          %color = ('apple' => 'red', 'banana' => 'yellow');
          print $color{'apple'};          # Prints `red'
  
     BAD:
          %fruit = ('apple' => 'red', 'banana' => 'yellow');
          print $fruit{'apple'};          # Prints `red'
  

Forward to Length of Variable Names
Back to On the Naming of Names (Form)
Up to index

Copyright © 1998, Tom Christiansen All rights reserved.