RE: Long Constant Names

["Christen, Duane J." <dchristen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Personally I don't understand prefixing variable types. 

Other than file fields, which are all caps, and basing pointers which we end
in "Base" we have no variable type "tagging". 

IMHO the context that the variable is used, and/or its name, should tell you
what the variable is, if you are still not sure and need to know exactly,
look at the compile listing.

As far as variable name length, whatever length feels comfortable and
identifies the data held by the variable. 

Duane   

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Richter [mailto:stephenrichter@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 7:47 AM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: Long Constant Names


On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 11:24:52 +0100, antoine.contal@xxxxxxx
<antoine.contal@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi group,
> 
> I'm having an argument with the team that choose our shop's coding style
conventions. I'd like to have your opinion on the subject.
> 
> The heart of the matter lies in this kind of constant declaration:
> 
> DwwAppStateUpdFailMsg...
> D                 C                   '...'
> 
> (ww is a prefix we have to add in front of variables and constants, to
differentiate them from file fields)
> 
> The convention team says this name is too long. They want everybody to
keep their names within the 15-character limit -- indeed, 13 meaningful
characters after you add the two-character prefix.
> 
> I think this name is already on the short side. Using so many
abbreviations won't make newcomers' work any easier. Still, isn't it more
readable than wwASUFM for instance?
> 
> Did anyone already have this argument? What were the decisive factors and
what did you choose in the end?

long name.  I try to organize the long name to make it meaningful
within the application as a whole.

all constants start with "con"

use a "_" character to group sets of constants.  kind of the
equivalent of the enum in c++:
    conItStat_Open
    conItStat_Closed
    conItStat_Ready

where "con" means constant
"itstat" is a field name in the database
what follows the "_" are the meaningful names of each permitted value
for that field.

-Steve
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