22.2 Mechanics
Mechanics, in this case,
refers to the process of selecting a
name for a given metadata token in the language such as class,
interface, field, parameter, and so on.
Microsoft, in its "Naming
Guidelines" topic (under the ".NET
Framework Design Guidelines" in the .NET SDK
Documentation), contains a list of
"Do's" and
"Don'ts" regarding
naming guidelines. Rather than reprint that list here in either
parroted or paraphrased form, we just make the following general
suggestions.
Names should be descriptive and concise. More importantly, they
should be meaningful to the principal consumers of the name梪se
syntax, phraseology, and terms that are familiar to the developers
who will use the code you are writing.
As suggested, since classes and interfaces and value types are often
marked "public," use Pascal-case
for their names.
Interfaces should always be prefixed with I,
following in COM tradition. Following the Pascal-casing rules, make
sure the next letter of the interface is also capitalized, as in
IComparable (indicating an interface that provides
comparable behavior). Frequently, interfaces are also descriptive
names (Comparable, Disposable,
and so on), rather than nouns.
Other than the I for interfaces, do not use any
sort of prefixes on names. This is what namespaces are for.
Attributes should always end in the Attribute
suffix. The C# compiler can use shorthand naming rules (allowing you
to leave off the Attribute portion of the name
when using the attribute) if you follow this convention.
Enums should use Pascal-casing, both for the typename and the values
within the enumerated type.
Fields should be named relative to what they store. Microsoft
specifically recommends against using Hungarian notation, even the
MFC m_ style; however, this style shows up in a
few places inside the FCL. Use what feels right to you and your
peers, but be consistent.
Events should be suffixed with EventHandler; event
argument types should be suffixed with EventArgs.
Frequently, events are prefixed with an On,
indicating the event is fired "on button
clicks" or "on window
closing"; this is not entirely consistent, however.
Exceptions should always be suffixed with
Exception.
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