As Apple released\u00a0yet another iPhone today, I would like to commemorate with\u00a0a discussion of camelCase (of which iPhone is an example)\u00a0and resolve its primary problem as a naming convention–acronyms.<\/p>\n
camelCase is a naming convention for programming (although it is used more broadly). \u00a0The idea is quite simple, you capitalize every first letter of multiple words in a file name (or variable, etc.) except for the first word (just keep it simple and leave it lowercase; if you capitalize it you have CamelCaps).<\/p>\n
I am a fan because it takes less space than using underscores (_) between words (snake case) or spaces (which introduce problems in many coding languages). \u00a0It is easier to type than adding underscores to variable names and syntax as well.<\/p>\n
But what about using acronyms together or at the start of a name? \u00a0For example, my naming a variable based on the terms “SES”, “VICAT”, and “males” would result in the following:<\/p>\n
sESVICATMales<\/p>\n
This is confusing–first\u00a0for distinguishing the first acronym as an acronym.\u00a0 Second (and most obviously), it is confusing because one cannot distinguish between SES and VICAT as two separate acronyms.<\/p>\n
The solution to both of these problems is to treat acronyms as a word. \u00a0This yields:<\/p>\n
sesVicatMales<\/p>\n
The distinction between the two acronyms is now clear.<\/p>\n
Enjoy camelCase!<\/p>\n