Names

Names

You should always choose names that suggest the meanings of the things being named. If the purpose of a method is to draw a rectangle, then a good name for that method is drawRect. If there is a variable of type FilledRect that is used as the stem of a stop sign, then a good name would be stem or stemRect.

• Names that have nothing to do with the program are very bad names! For example, FramedRect frodo, just makes your program harder to read.
• Names that are not specific or descriptive enough are generally bad names. Ex. Line line or Line l are not as good as Line foulLine if the line represents a foul line.
• Try not to name objects sequentially. You should only do this when the objects are related in some way that is not otherwise expressible. Ex., FramedRect box1, FramedRect box2, FramedRect box3 are not as good as darksBasket, whitesBasket, and colorsBasket if the rectangles represent laundry baskets for clothes of specific colors.

Following Java convention, constants (indicated by "static final" in Java) are all capital letters, classes begin with uppercase, variable and method names begin with lowercase, while uppercase is used to start new words in multi-word names. You are expected to follow these naming conventions to make your program readable.

Instance variables should never be declared to be public. Instance variables should only be used when a value must be saved for use after a constructor or method has been completed. Otherwise local variables should be used. Constants should always be declared at the top of the program.

Names