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Have you thought about casing? - stitcher.io

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Have you thought about casing?
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« back — written by Brent on December 20, 2018

Have you thought about casing? 

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I'VeMadeTheArgumentManyTimesBefore:ProgrammersShouldn'TUnderestimateTheValueOfCodeReadability.TodayI'LlArgueOnceMoreAgainstACommonPracticeWeAllSeemToTakeForGranted:Casing.

ItSeemsLikeSuchAMinorDetail,Right?UsingCamelsOrSnakesOrKebabsToStringWordsTogether,WhoCares?There'SMoreToThisQuestionThough.

CodeReadabilityShouldn'TBeNeglected.ItImpactsHowEasyYouCanNavigateAndUnderstandYourCode.WeShouldTalkAboutTheCasingConventionsWeUse.

EarlyProgrammingLanguagesDidn'THaveTheSameConventionsWeHaveToday.LanguagesLikeLispAndCOBOLOriginatedBeforeWidespreadASCIISupport,ExplainingTheDifference.Upper-AndLowerCase,AndSpecialCharactersLikeUnderscoresSimplyWeren'TSupportedByCompilersBackInThe50sAndEarly60s.

BothLispAndCOBOLAllowedForHyphensToSplitWords.Lisp'SParserWasSmartEnoughToDetectWhetherAHyphenWasBetweenTwoWords,OrWhetherItShouldBeUsedAsTheSubtractionOperator.COBOLOnlyHasFullWordsAsOperators,EliminatingTheProblemAlltogether.Here'SASubtractionInCOBOL:

BecauseTheHyphenIsn'TAReservedKeyword,ItCanBeUsedToSplitWords.

WhenProgrammingLanguagesMaturedInThe80sAnd90s,ItBecameClearThatTheHyphenShouldBeReservedForMathematicalOperations.AnotherIssueWithLisp'SSmartApproachWasThatItDidn'TScaleInModernLanguages,ItSlowedDownTokenisationSignificantly.

SpacesObviouslyCouldNeverBeUsed,AsAlmostEveryProgrammingLanguageUsesThemAsTheBoundaryBetweenTokens.SoWhat'SLeft?HowCouldWeWriteMultipleWordsAsOne,WhileKeepingTheseWordsReadable?

ThisIsWhyWe'ReLeftWithTwoMajorConventionsToday:CamelCase,EitherLower-OrUpper;AndSnakeCase.AsASidenote:UpperCamelCaseIsAlsoCalledPascalCase.

MostOfTheTime,ALanguageTendsToFavouriteOneOfTheTwoCasings.WeCouldSayIt'SAMatterOfCommunityGuidelines,AndBeDoneWithIt.

It'SMyOpinionThatThere'SMoreToIt.ThereIsOneBetter,MoreReadableWayOfWritingWords.YouCanProbablyGuessWhichOne,BasedOnTheStartOfThisBlogPost.CamelCaseMakesTextMoreDifficultToRead,ComparedToSnakeCase.

GivenTheWordUserId,CompareTheTwoWaysOfWritingIt:

It'STrue:CamelCaseIsMoreCompact:YouDon'THaveToWriteAsMuch.ButWhichStyleIsTheClosestToHowTheHumanBrainActuallyReadsAText?

ThisIsTheOnlyArgumentThatMattersToMeInThisDiscussion:

ReadableCode,ReducesCognitiveLoad.LessCognitiveLoadMeansMoreMemorySpaceForHumansToThinkAboutOtherThings,ThingsLikeWritingBusinessLogic.

"AllOfThatJustByUsingUnderscores?"No,NotJustBecauseOfUnderscores.There'SMuchMoreToWritingReadableCodeThanNamingConventions.ButAllSmallThingsHelpInGettingABiggerSolution.

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