Variable naming for arrays/lists/collections - C#

Question

What should I call a variable instantiated with some type of array?

Is it okay to simply use a pluralised form of the type being held?

IList<Person> people = new List<Person>();

or should I append something like 'List' to the name?

IList<Person> personList = new List<Person>();

Also, is it generally acceptable to have loops like this?

foreach(string item in items)
{ 
    //Do something 
}

Answer 1

This is simple code convention, so you should go with what your team is used to. If you are single per project, just keep using the same convention whatever that is.

LE: the loop is ok, though it's a distinct question.

Answer 2

Personally I'd go for "people", however this is highly subjective and not "coding standard". Go with what you feel is most intuitive.

And yes your loop is perfectly acceptable

Answer 3

I personally feel that a variable name should describe the type as well as the context. I personally like the personList more :) With all these 'personally' statements, I guess it's just my personal feeling :)

Answer 4

In the teams I've worked with, we commonly consider it good practice to not differentiate a list/array variable from a single object variable, just by using the plural form of the name.

I.e. using

object horse = new object();

and

List<object> horses = new List<object>;

will be really hard when you read the code. So you should go for something like

object horse = new object();

and

List<object> PackOfHorses = new List<Object>();

as you already mentioned.

Your loop is perfectly acceptable. Nothing wrong with that.

EDIT: Changed the phrasing and variable names due to comments.

Answer 5

Ideally, you would use the plural, although there are times you might want to use the other form. There are only guidelines, not hard and fast rules.

Answer 6

As mentioned before this is really very subjective but, I'd go for what looks best in the intellisense dropdown when you use the classes as that is probably the first point of interaction other developers using your code will have.

Answer 7

I don't like using PersonList since it sounds more like a class you've written to contain persons than a variable.

Answer 8

I guess back in old days when there were no fully featured IDEs, using names like peopleList were more fitting since they could figure out the type of the variable by its name. But nowadays, that's not an issue anymore.