Programmers dictionary/lexicon for non native speakers

Question

I'm not an English speaker, and I'm not very good at English. I'm self thought. I have not worked together with others on a common codebase. I don't have any friends who program. I don't work with other programmers (at least nobody who cares about these things).

I guess this might explain some of my problems in finding good unambiguous class names. I have tried to find some sort of "Programmers dictionary" containing words often used and their meanings. When reading others code I have to look up words quite often, and as many use abbreviations this poses an additional challenge.

My very limited vocabulary "forces" me to use bad class names like xxManager, xxProvider, xxWhatever. It's usually less problematic choosing variable and method names.

Other non English people out here: How have you managed to cope with this? Have you studied English so well it's not a problem? Or have you read so much code naming comes natural? Or discussed a lot with English speakers? Found any good websites, articles or other publications? As I've never read anything regarding programming in my own language, I often have more problems trying to find the words in my language...

PS: All other posts I've found was regarding mixing native tongue and English... And I understand this might be a bit off topic and might be closed.

Edit: Some resources from the answers and other stuff I use:

• Jargon / The New Hacker's Dictionary
• Common design patterns
• Google translate
• Dictionary

Answer 1

Documenting your code with excellent prose like your question above will go a long way!

If you stick to common design patterns endemic to the language, platform, and architecture for which you're working with, other engineers should understand your nomenclature fairly easily.

Answer 2

How about using your native language? Of course (like for me as an Austrian) some letters may not be allowed - but who cares if there is Mörder or Moerder (Murder) in the class name :)

Or (as I do) use a dictionary like dict.cc or something else. I do - think what the class does - it manages game session (for an example) so it will become GameSessionManager.

Abbreviations are (at least for me) a problem - but what I've learned from other code - event native speakers use different abbreviations. And if the class is called GameSessionMgr or GameSessionMngr doesn't make a difference.

Your are not writing books or some kind of "english poem" where spelling, grammar and... counts.

You write code - and if you follow "your sepcial rules" - you and others will (after some time) be able to understand you code and class names.

Answer 3

It will come with time and experience. Above all attempt to (like @Mike A says) document things until the code becomes clearer and try to be consistent.

Answer 4

If you are worried about it in terms of naming your own objects, just think of what your native word is for what you want to do, then go get an english language translation dictionary, and use the english language version.

Answer 5

The Jargon file will help with the more obscure references people will give in the industry.
http://catb.org/jargon/html/go01.html

Other than that..finding good names for your variables/classes/etc is hard. Often times, it's harder than actually solving the problem. Here's a good resource for some common design pattern names people like to use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_pattern_%28computer_science%29

Examples:
AbcFactory
XyzBridge

Answer 6

Other non English people out here:

How have you managed to cope with this?

Good naming in code matters. Using English is the preferred, but if you don't know English very well the result could be counterproductive.

I had a friend who just guessed what the correct name would be and the result was horrible. ie

String employiiNeim; // employeeName
int  eich;           // age

The problem with English, is that is not pronounced as written ( french have this minor ... ehrm characteristic ) Other languages like Spanish, German, Dutch, and others, do type and pronounce every letter in the word.

This becomes particular relevant when what you are coding are business rules or business models. In this case it is much better to use your native language.

String nombreEmpleado;
int edad;

Way much better, specially when you work with others.

Have you studied English so well it's not a problem?

Yeap, there is no other way, and a lot of practice.

You can study English the same way you study programming languages though. You can have a teacher and attend to a class room and study an hour a day. Or ( what I did ) you can just grab something that is interesting to you and try to understand it. For instance, you have a small document describing something you care, you read blogs or read content here at StackOverflow, you translate a song you like, etc. etc.

All these are study forms. There is no other way, you won't wake up one day and say: "...I know kung fu" I mean, and say: ..."I know English"

Or have you read so much code naming comes natural?

Also helps, but if you don't understand what the code means, you ... well won't make any progress.

You'll learn the programming language, and that will help you to understand English bit better, but won't help you to learn it. That's because when we program we learn the programming language not the native language.

Or discussed a lot with English speakers?

Eerhh..nope. If you have that chance go ahead, it will improve your listening and speaking, but not necessarily your writting.

The most effective way to improve your English vocabulary and grammar is by READING ( reading in your native language also improves your own language btw )

So, I would say, read as much as you can. Use your native language while you gain more confidence, and keep studying.

The English will come with time.

Answer 7

Could be an unorthodox suggestion, but I would recommend studying English more deeply (I am also a non-native speaker).

Expose yourself to as much English as possible! Watch movies, read English fiction, listen to technical podcasts.

Mind you, if you really want to deepen your knowledge of English, you're probably not going to learn a lot watching "Transformers". On the other hand, diving into Ulysses probably is not a good strategy either.

If you're feeling adventurous, you could always get a subscription to the New Yorker magazine. It'll do things to you - yes this is flamebaiting. :P

Answer 8

This is an issue that I run into as well, even as a native English speaker. As a programmer, I often find that I need to find a descriptive word for a class, variable, function, etc. I often find myself asking a friend or coworker what verbage they would use by explaining my idea, carefully excluding any words I myself have considered as a possible choice for the class/function/variable name so as not to inhibit their creativity.

It seems to me that the English Language & Usage site proposal over at Area51 is a good place to ask such questions as "What would you call a class (or thing) that does this, this and that, and has properties x, y, and z?

Answer 9

If you can't find the "Programmer's Dictionary" you're looking for, start one. Post a new question: "What entries are missing from this Dictionary for English-as-a-Second-Language-Programmers?" and seed it with 10 or 20 words/definitions you've already discovered. Once posters have suggested enough additions, move it to a a wiki somewhere and keep accepting contributions. You might end up creating a valuable resource.