What does CNT stand for in naming stored procedures?

Question

There's a stored procedure called "cnt_insertContestEntry" in my company's database. I'm new to database naming conventions. What could CNT possibly mean? Contest? i could ask my co-workers but i don't want to look dumb :p.

Answer 1

Looks like it's being used as a schema identifier, means Contest maybe? Horrific naming standard if so!

Answer 2

I had a hard time making this sound nice, and I'm not sure if I succeeded. It is rather strange to ask people who are unlikely to know the answer when you have people much nearer who are quite likely to know the answer.

In general, if you want to know the answer, ask the person most likely to have it. In my opinion, that is never going to make you look dumb!

Answer 3

"cnt" is commonly used as an abbreviation for "count", often in variable names as a part of Hungarian notation. I don't think that's how it's being used here, though. Your guess sounds reasonable. I'd ask.

Answer 4

CNT as a technical term is usually some variant of "Computer Network Technology" [Reference].

Answer 5

What's the data type? If it's numeric, maybe it's count - e.g., the database is de-normalized

Answer 6

What's the name of the project/application? We usually prefix our tables, stored procedures etc, with an abbreviated version of the project name.

e.g. on "The TTP Project",

• ttp_users
• ttp_doSomething

Answer 7

I agree, go ahead and ask your co-workers. But here are some less efficient ideas:

If it's a Stored Procedure, then examine the procedure and see if it gives you clues.

Look for other procedures that start with cnt_. See if they give you any ideas.

My guess is that cnt stands for contest, and that the original author chose the prefix so that all contest-related stored procedures were grouped together alphabetically. Maybe though, there's only one so far.

Answer 8

It's spelled in lowercase, so probably just short for something unimportant. Count, or Content, or Contest, or Cent. It seems to be a namespace of some kind so it's likely that you have other stored procedures with the same prefix. Maybe it's the initials of the person who wrote it. Did you have a Carl-Nicolay Tenenbaum working for you? (Oh, just made that name up, btw.)

Btw, the only dumb questions are the ones you don't dare to ask. So in case of doubt, ask your colleagues. :-)

Answer 9

Given the sproc has to do with contest entries, I'd guess that cnt is an abbreviation for CoNTest.

It's not the most obvious naming mechanism, but it would serve to suitably keep similar procedures grouped together within SQL Management Studio.

Answer 10

Just ask, I'd only be annoyed with a coworker if they repeatedly asked the same question. First answer is always free.

Answer 11

In one of my projects we have used prefixes to determine the subsystem of project. Because different subsystems were developed by different developers, these prefixes were like shema identifiers.

Answer 12

Don't lose time searching on the internet/analyzing the function. Any company wants efficient employees & in this case asking your colleagues is way more efficient then guessing. The longer you wait to ask, the more awkward it will be when you do ask after thinking about it for ages.. ;)