Hi everyone, today we will explore how we can use grammar to properly name our variables and functions. I have been using these ever since college and have found it to be extremely helpful for writing readable and clean code.

Why proper naming convention matters

In the coding universe, names matter a lot.

The thumb rule of naming any variable, method, class, etc should be that the name alone should be able to describe:

• why it exists
• what it does

Let say, we have a code where var abc = 12; , what do we infer from this? We cannot understand what value does this refer to, what 12 here stands for.

But, instead, if we had var numberOfMonths = 12; it is quite clear that 12 stands for the number of months in a year. So, the code becomes more readable, and hence, more maintainable, by following good naming conventions.

Let’s follow some grammar rules

The verbs and nouns play a great role while assigning names in code. I follow the following two rules, and my life has been so much easy. The rules are very simple, and cover almost all scenarios:

If we are naming a variable, the name should be a NOUN, and if we are naming a function, it should be a VERB.

Let’s understand through some examples:

1. While creating a variable used to store a value, we can use nouns, like:

    var personName = 'some name';
    var personAge = 25;
   
    // using plural names for arrays, etc.
    var candidates = [];
   

For variables which store boolean values, often is/has/did/should, etc are pre-pended. So when we read that name, it is quite clear that the value will be either true or false, like:

    // boolean values
    var hasError = false;
    var isSelected = true;
    var didValueChange = true;
    var shouldHide = false;

1. While creating any function, we can use verbs (so that they denote some kind of action), like:

    // getters
    function getName () { /** code goes here */ }
    
    // setter
    function setName () { /** code goes here */ }
    
    // performing some action
    function displayAvailableOptions { /** code goes here */ }
    
    function validateNumber()  { /** code goes here */ }
    
    function updateCandidateInformation()  { /** code goes here */ }
    
    function handleValueChange() { /** code goes here */ }
    
    function onButtonClick()  { /** code goes here */ }

For functions which will return a boolean value, we can pre-pend is/has/did/should, etc to the name, similar to naming variables holding boolean values, like:

    function isDataLoaded() { /** code goes here */ }
    function hasValueChanged() { /** code goes here */ }
    function didStudentPass() { /** code goes here */ }
    function shouldUpgrade()  { /** code goes here */ }

That’s all.

These are the TWO simple rules which cover almost all kinds of scenarios which we can stumble upon while coding.

They have proven to be very useful to me, and I hope you also find it useful and helpful for creating a cleaner and more readable codebase.

Do let me know, what do you follow while naming your variables, functions, etc. Happy learning, have a great day… 😊

NOTE: This article was originally posted on Medium

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