Syntaxonomicon – Easy-to-Understand Variable Names

Clear, expressive, and intuitive coding practices independent of strong or dynamic typing, for any language.

Syntaxonomicon, a variable naming convention / guide assembled since 2000 at Sylipsi, Ektaron and Idelekka, with a focus on code readability in various languages for programming geniuses like you and me who can’t remember how clever they were a month after project the went live.

Note

Syntaxonomicon = syntax + onomicon (a compendium of names)

Syntaxonomicon emerged from a need for a consistent, cross-language variable naming convention. Probably because of our background in the creative industries (writing, design, cinema), this standard foregoes traditionally terse but obscure naming practices by introducing longer but more explicit methods.

Key Principles

• Type Indication Prefixes: Each variable type begins with a specific prefix (e.g., int_, str_, bool_) for immediate type recognition.
• Function Result Suffixes: Each function has a standardized suffix to immediately give a sense of its result (a return of a conversion, a print to the UI…)
• Macro to Micro Scope: Planet > continent > country > city > street
• Nouns for variables
• Verbs for functions
• No Dashes: Compatible with languages like JavaScript, PHP, Python, Rust, and Swift.

Naming Conventions

• variables → TitleCase instead of widely used camelCase
• functions → all lower case and underscore separators

Variables – All Languages

• CONSTANT_NAME

• int_IntegerVariableName

• flt_FloatVariableName

• str_StringVariableName

• bool_BooleanVariableName

• arr_ArrayName

• obj_ObjectName

Variables – JavaScript

• obj_RegexName → JavaScript Regex patterns… which are objects

• dom_ObjectName → JavaScript DOM objects

• obj_event_ObjectName → JavaScript eventListener objects

• obj_obs_ObjectName → JavaScript observer objects

• obj_err_ObjectName → JavaScript error objects (from try/catch, for example)

• mod_loc_ObjectName → JavaScript modules’ import as objects local to the application (not from public NPMs)

• mod_com_ObjectName → JavaScript modules’ import as objects from modules common to several applications (still not from public NPMs)

Variables – C++, PHP

• mix_MixedTypeName → the mixed oddball

• class_ClassName

• class_inst_ClassInstanceName

• resource_stream_ResourceObjectWithStreamCharacteristics → PHP low-level stuff like old MySQL connections (no longer used) or still relevant fopen() wrapper of the C fopen() function

Functions

Verbs

• verb_to_describe_what_a_function_does

Suffixes

append to verb_to_describe_what_a_function_does, depending on its intent:

_get → get some value or function and return

_conv → process into something and return

_bool → to check whether something is true or not by passing into a function

_set → set a new variable somewhere

_print → print out to Console / HTML / CSS / GUI-layer

_iife → to more easily trace IIFEs

Examples

// Print additional vars to console
const CONSOLE_DEBUG = false;


/**
 * Cuts a string with a max limit of characters at the character type asked
 * (a space, a full stop, etc.)
 *
 * @param {string} str_Text
 * @param {number} int_CharsMax
 * @param {string} str_Character
 * @returns
 */
function cut_string_at_char_within_limit_conv ( str_Text, int_CharsMax, str_Character ) {

  // Only if the text passed in is over the max char limit
  if ( str_Text.length > int_CharsMax ) {

    // 1.  Cut the string to max length
    str_Text = str_Text.substring( 0, int_CharsMax );

    /**
     * 2. In all cases:
     *
     * - search for the position of last occurrence of the character
     *   passed-in as param
     *
     * - cut at that position
     */

    // After the cut, can we find the character passed to cut at?
    if ( str_Text.lastIndexOf( str_Character ) > 1 ) {
      str_Text = str_Text.substring( 0, str_Text.lastIndexOf( str_Character ) );
    }

    // No? Let's try and find a semi-column and cut there?
    else if ( str_Text.lastIndexOf( ';' ) > 1 ) {
      str_Text = str_Text.substring( 0, str_Text.lastIndexOf( ';' ) );
    }

    // No? Let's try and find a comma and cut there?
    else if ( str_Text.lastIndexOf( ',' ) > 1 ) {
      str_Text = str_Text.substring( 0, str_Text.lastIndexOf( ',' ) );
    }

    // No punctuation to do a graceful cut... cut at white space.
    else {
      str_Text = str_Text.substring( 0, str_Text.lastIndexOf( ' ' ) );
    }

  }

  return str_Text;

}

Contributing

The world of coding is ever-evolving, and so is Syntaxonomicon. Share your insights, suggest improvements, or extend these conventions to other programming languages and paradigms.