Perl Style: On the Naming of Names (Content)
- `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.
Tags
Feedback
Something wrong with this article? Help us out by opening an issue or pull request on GitHub