When starting out in the development of websites, applications or databases, we often wonder how to name things. Here are some ways to help you, inspire you and minimize the risk of errors.
A naming convention in computer programming is a set of rules for choosing the identifiers (element names) in the source code and documentation. To better understand the benefits and challenges of doing this, visit the full wikipedia article.
Why to follow a naming convention?
First because a machine, a computer system, a file system is not human at all. Reduced to its smallest scale, it is electricity that oscillates between 0 and 5 volts at a frantic pace and we ultimately want the result to have an aspect that we can understand. Between the two, there is often a machine, an OS, a file and an application which finally appears on a screen.
We must separate the result that we see and the way we achieve it. Separate the human aspect from the technical aspect. This article deals with the second.
Name of files and folders
Suppose we have just made a logo that will only be used during the summer and that it should be recorded. Our mind suggests us to name it:
High Résolution Logo, Summer 2018.jpg
This name is not appropriate, even if locally on your computer everything will be fine. It’s in your memory, in applications and on the internet that it’s going to get stuck.
- It contains capital letters – On the Internet, a capital letter is not equivalent to a lower case. Windows and MacOS are very tolerant, while a web server is not at all.
Which means that if you have to write it in code, you will have to remember the exact syntax.
If you do not use it, it will be less beautiful to read for a human, but you will remember much better. - It contains accents – On the internet, an accent must be encoded (replaced by a code) and this code is not identical according to the platform (Windows ISO 8859-1, MacOS Novel).
Do not use accent ensures full compatibility between all platforms. - It contains special signs – Apostrophe and punctuation are special signs. Some signs have special meanings (‘ “,;? = # /: < >) All serve something special in programming or on the internet.
Do not use signs, avoid side effects and do not need to encode them.
Four signs are allowed _ ( underscore ) – (drew) and parentheses. However, it is recommended to use only one, the underscore . The others can be interpreted as arithmetic operations. - It contains spaces – On the internet, when accessing a file within a URI (URL) spaces are not allowed. It will therefore be necessary to replace the space with a code (% 20).
Do not use spaces, you do not have to encode the file name. Use an _ ( underscore ) instead. - It contains a date – If a year later you change logo, you will probably redo a new file and name it “… December_2019.jpg” but then you will have to think about updating all the applications, all your pages web site as well as all related sites that used your logo, to inform them that the logo at changed and you have to bond with the new one. It’s a titanic job, if not impossible.
Instead, archive the old file by naming it with a date, but always keep the same name for the one that will serve as a reference.
It should therefore be named:
logo_haute_resolution.jpg
For a folder, use the same rules for the same reasons.
Conclusion
To name a file, use the letters from a to z , in lowercase as well as the numbers from 0 to 9 .
To separate the words, do not use spaces , use the underscore _ instead.
Avoid any other sign or punctuation.
Databases, Tables and Topics
Imagine that we have to create a database containing the logos of our customers. It will contain two tables.
A database is a file, the previous 5 rules are required. So we will name it:
images_entreprises
Why not logos_clients ?
Our current project may be limited to the logos of our customers, but if it works well it could evolve easily and can store photos and logos, for all partner companies, customers and suppliers.
Now let’s name our two tables, the same naming rules apply, although there is a variant with capital letters:
- companies or Companies
- logos or Logos
It is advisable to create tables according to their nature and to name them in order to be able to make them evolve easily.
A logo is an image of a certain type, just like a photo. It will be easy to distinguish them by a heading.
A client and supplier are similar, they share a lot of characteristics in common are wholes two companies.
Every table must have a primary key (primary key), an identifier unique and invariable allowing another table to link to our record. There is absolutely no need for it to be humanly understandable, on the contrary. The company name is not a primary key, it is probably unique, but not invariable. A company can suddenly change its name, even if it’s rare. Often a primary key is an automatic number or a unique complex text string within the database.
Other tables will then have a foreign key (foreign key) referring to it.
It’s all about naming rules. If you want more information about databases, you’ll find all information on wikipedia .
Let’s make some headings allowing to:
- See a company and its official logo
- Identify the director and his email address
- Click on a link to go to their website
- See postal address
First without the capital letters
| business | The table is plural, it contains several |
| pk_entreprise | ( Primary key, primary key) unique for a single company, that’s why it is singular |
| entreprise_nom | The name of the company |
| entreprise_type | The type of company, customer or supplier |
| fk_image | ( Foreign Key, secondary key) The key of the image to bind to a single image identifying the company, its logo. |
| directeur_nom | The last name of the director |
| directeur_prenom | The director’s first name |
| directeur_email | The director’s email address |
| uri_protocole | For the internet protocol (http or https) |
| uri_adresse | For the domain name (www.truc.com ) |
| adr_rue | The street of the postal address |
| adr_case_postale | The postal box of the postal address |
| adr_npa | The postal code for the postal address |
| adr_ville | The city for the postal address |
| calc_adresse_postale | the calculated heading which will compose the postal address |
| calc_hyperlink | the calculated item that will add the address to the protocol in order to create the hyperlink |
And to store the logos in the image table:
| imagery | The table is plural, it contains several |
| pk_image | ( Primary key, primary key) unique for a single image, it is singular |
| filename | the file name |
| fk_entreprise | ( Foreign Key, secondary key) of the company to which it belongs |
| uri_protocole | To display the image, the internet protocol (http or https) |
| uri_adresse | The web address where the image is |
| calc_image_source | the calculated item that will load the address to the protocol in order to obtain the source of the image |
With capital letters
| companies | The table is plural, it contains several |
| ID_Entreprise | ( Primary key, primary key) unique for a single company, that’s why it is singular |
| entreprise_Nom | The name of the company |
| entreprise_Type | The type of company, customer or supplier |
| image_id | ( Foreign Key, secondary key) The key of the image to bind to a single image identifying the company, its logo. |
| directeur_Nom | The last name of the director |
| directeur_Prenom | The director’s first name |
| directeur_Email | The director’s email address |
| uri_Protocole | For the internet protocol (http or https) |
| uri_Adresse | For the domain name (www.truc.com ) |
| adr_Rue | The street of the postal address |
| adr_CasePostale | The postal box of the postal address |
| adr_NPA | The postal code for the postal address |
| adr_Ville | The city for the postal address |
| _ PostalAddress | the calculated heading which will compose the postal address |
| _ Hyperlink | the calculated item that will add the address to the protocol in order to create the hyperlink |
And to store the logos in the image table:
| imagery | The table is plural, it contains several |
| ID_Image | ( Primary key, primary key) unique for a single image, it is singular |
| filename | the file name |
| Entreprise_ID | ( Foreign Key, secondary key) of the company to which it belongs |
| uri_Protocole | To display the image, the internet protocol (http or https) |
| uri_Adresse | The web address where the image is |
| _ ImageSource | the calculated item that will load the address to the protocol in order to obtain the source of the image |
Conclusion
The use of prefixes is strongly recommended to group topics and clarify their usefulness.
To name a heading address or name only, makes sense only if there is no ambiguity , here there would have been; web address or mailing address, company name or director’s name.
Both tables have fields with the same name, which is quite common. It is not necessary to use a prefix with the name of the table, this only lengthens them unnecessarily. And that makes sense because their content is similar.
Coding
In programming, naming rules are important in order to distinguish between variables , objects or classes .
These rules may vary from one language to another but speci c applies to most currents (Java, C #, PHP, javascript , css )
Let’s take a look at the examples where we have to code descriptions of logos.
- We use the letters from a to z and from A to Z , the variants between upper and lower case having a meaning.
- We start with a capital letter , when we name an object or a class .
The object to describe a logo would be named: DescriptionLogo - We starts with a lowercase , if it is a variable .
The variable that instantiates the object would be named: descriptionLogo - Never space . In programming, space is used to separate the elements of an instruction.
The statement that creates the variable instantiating an object would be: private descriptionLogo = new DescriptionLogo ( ); - Never punctuation or special signs. In programming they serve the syntax of our instructions.
If our logo description contains a text property, a dot allows you to reach it: Print ( descriptionLogo.text ); - Never accents . To avoid encoding problems when moving from one platform to another.
- Numbers are rarely used . In general, if we need it, we have different values for a variable. It is then necessary to create an array whose number will be the index of the variable.
If we had multiple descriptions, we would call each of them by:
descriptionLogo [ 0], descriptionLogo [1] , etc …
Conclusion
Every programming language and every person has its own conventions and convictions. This article is not a norm, it is mainly about answering questions that we can ask ourselves when we start to discover and act in a computer system.