Session Spotlight

Peter Ritchie

Camp Counselor

Session #H: Naming Things

Event Logo

Wednesday, January 18, 2023 - 1:00 PM CST, for 1 hour.

Regular, 60 minute presentation

Room: Campsite 1

naming
practices
patterns

There are 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-1 errors. This session is about naming things. In software, we need to name classes, methods, properties, libraries, solutions, etc. We also have to give names to variables, parameters, namespaces, interfaces, services, resources, etc. And most of the time, they can't conflict. Sometimes it's easy but sometimes it can be hard. We'll do a quick review of some of the easy guidelines that avoid some (somewhat easy) decisions then look into the things that require names that involve a deeper understanding of context. What the contexts are, their granularity, and how that can alleviate naming issues will be covered. How the types of contexts and their motivation and good compartmentalization make for easier naming will be detailed. We'll leverage some English grammar rules to relegate naming to a code smell—something recognizable with proven solutions. And finally, time permitting, some techniques and ideas to relegate *naming is hard* to problems of the past will be outlined.

Prerequisites

Experience naming anything while programming.

Take Aways

  • Understand naming challenges
  • How to address naming challenges
favorited by:
Mandy Hubbard Jessica Knaak Peter Ritchie Cori Drew Dave Aronson Kris Boedigheimer Caleb Jenkins Sharon Cichelli