Re: Objective-C Instance Variable Names

FROM : Robert Claeson
DATE : Thu Apr 03 20:08:55 2008

On 3 Apr 2008, at 19:58, Rob Napier wrote:

> 2. Leading "m" makes you look like a C++ programmer and other ObjC
> programmers will laugh at you. You can take that for what it's 
> worth, but
> it's worth keeping in mind if you're going to work on large projects 
> with
> other programmers. "Other ObjC programmers will laugh at you" seems 
> to be a
> common mechanism for keeping large projects sane. Java guys use their
> compiler. We use peer pressure. Which you think is a better way to 
> enforce
> good practice will determine whether you are happier as a Java or ObjC
> programmer.


As a Smalltalk programmer (although I don't get to do much Smalltalk 
programming these days) I stick with the following naming convention 
from the Smalltalk days:

A. Arguments are usually called something like "aName", "anAddress" etc.
B. Local variables are usually named in their generic form, eg "name".
C. Instance variables are usually named like "theName", "theAddress" 
or something else that makes sense if there's the risk of mixup 
between ivars and locals.

"Usually" and "makes sense" are the key phrases here.

Using leading underscores or even worse, hungarian notation, gives me 
sore eyes and makes the code hard to read.

On a side note, I learned C++ back in the late 80's from a guy named 
Dr Bjarne Stroustrup. He didn't use hungarian or leading underscores. 
I believe both conventions were introduced much later by Microsoft, if 
my memory serves me right.

Robert