For those of you that use the underscore prefix for private class members in C# (i.e. private int _count;), what do you use for private constants? I'm thinking the following but am curious as to what others are doing.
private const int _MaxCount;
views:
165answers:
4
+1
A:
C# and .NET naming conventions discourage all prefixes (e.g. C, i, s_, g_, m_, _) except "I" for interface names and "T" for type parameters.
Mehrdad Afshari
2009-08-20 13:36:01
And a T prefix for generic types?
Charlie
2009-08-20 13:38:37
Do you have a reference to that? As far as I remember these conventions only cover the public parts, but not private.
M4N
2009-08-20 13:38:52
Charlie: Yeah. I missed that one. Thanks for pointing it out. Actually, not the types themselves. T for type parameters.
Mehrdad Afshari
2009-08-20 13:39:44
Martin: There's a naming convention document out there. The thing you are mentioning is the common language specification naming standards. They are actually **enforced** if you want your assembly to be `[CLSCompliant(true)]` and they only cover public names but the conventions apply to all cases (and they are just conventions.)
Mehrdad Afshari
2009-08-20 13:41:45
I'm not quite sure I understand why prefixes are discouraged? If I don't use them, I can't immediately identify that a variable is a class variable or a local variable.
bsh152s
2009-08-20 13:54:53
Brandon: I can think of some reasons but I'm just quoting the .NET framework naming guidelines published by MS. This is their decision.
Mehrdad Afshari
2009-08-20 13:57:33
+5
A:
Well, private is private, so chose the convention you like best. I personally use PascalCasing, e.g:
private const int SomeConstant = 42;
This is what MSDN has to say about it:
The naming guidelines for fields apply to static public and protected fields. You should not define public or protected instance fields:
- Do use Pascal casing in field names.
- Do name fields with nouns or noun phrases.
- Do not use a prefix for field names. For example, do not use g_ or s_ to distinguish static versus non-static fields.
M4N
2009-08-20 13:36:29
It says: use `camelCase` for private fields (constants are technically fields too): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/x2dbyw72(VS.71).aspx
Mehrdad Afshari
2009-08-20 14:01:41
The problem I have with this is that Pascal casing is also used for Properties. I'd like to look at a variable and know it is a variable, not a property.
bsh152s
2009-08-20 14:07:44
A:
The naming guidelines are available here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229002.aspx
As Mehrdad said, prefixes are specifically discouraged.
That said, they are just guidelines more than hard rules. Personally, I use an '_' prefix, but only for private members that directly provide the backing store for a public property, and then the names will otherwise match exactly.
There's no specific guidance for constants, so the Capitalization Conventions rules probably still fit.
Joel Coehoorn
2009-08-20 13:47:58
A:
I'm using:
private const int MAX_COUNT = 42;
I do not use PascalCasing because that's my standard for properties.
I do not use camelCasing because that's my standard for local variables.
I do not use _camelCasing because that's my standard for private fields.
I do not use _PascalCasing because IMO it's hard to distinguish it from _camelCasing.
HuBeZa
2009-08-20 13:49:03