Naming guidelines - Naming generic objects

Question

MSDN Guidelines states that class names should be Pascal cast with no special prefix, such as "C".
It is also states that names of class members, such as proprties and fields, should also be Pascal cast.
So, names ambiguity may arise in the case of a naming generic object.
for example, consider a class named "Polynom". An object instantiate from this class shuold be named "Polynom" also. Polynom = new Polynom. Is it?

Answer 1

You may often see

PolyNom polyNom = new PolyNom();

Although most of the time this is not the most readable code. Is it just any old polyNom, or is it for a specific purpose. Steve McConnell sites in Code Complete that the optimal variable name length for debugging (reading code) is 10-16 characters, with 8-20 characters being about the same (pg. 262 second ed.) this gives you a lot of room to more accurately describe exactly what your variable is.

Answer 2

I think a more common guideline (that I have seen Microsoft themselves follow) is to name variables, including instances, camel-cased (lower first, upper all other words: variableName). So in your case, it would be polynom = new Polynom. Of course, I wouldn't actually name a variable polynom unless it had a very obvious use and only for a local space. Otherwise a variable name should describe what it does, not what type it is.

All that said, the most important part of any naming convention is not what casing goes where but that you are consistent with it. Find something that works for you and stick to it!

[Quick edit: re-reading your question again, I see that you're mainly concerned about Properties. In this case, yes, it is very common to Pascal case them, so Polynom would be resonable. But since this is a property that would be exposed to the user (otherwise why is it a property?) Please don't name it Polynom!!! Do something more descriptive, we have intellisense if we want to know the type.]