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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Class Naming in Core
From: rowan.collins@gmail.com (Rowan Collins)

On 1 June 2017 10:16:16 BST, Tony Marston <TonyMarston@hotmail=2Ecom> wrote=
:
>"Rowan Collins"  wrote in message=20
>news:CEF783BB-8E1F-4A20-9CC6-1364A122BECC@gmail=2Ecom=2E=2E=2E
>>
>>On 31 May 2017 10:26:06 BST, Tony Marston <TonyMarston@hotmail=2Ecom>
>wrote:
>>>wrote in message
>>>news:86dba466-a764-522b-6990-39fd7668a79c@fleshgrinder=2Ecom=2E=2E=2E
>>>I should point out that snake_case was the universal standard decades
>>>before some people switched to CamelCase=2E
>>
>>[citation needed]
>
>My first job in computing was with a UNIVAC 1108 mainframe in the
>1970s=2E=20
>This used a 6-bit character instead of an 8-bit byte, which meant that
>it=20
>could support upper case characters, but not lower case=2E Where a name
>was=20
>comprised of several words an underscore separator was used, as in=20
>"end_of_file"=2E

Fascinating, but doesn't make it "universal", or frankly have anything to =
do with how we write code 40 years later=2E


>>> That was only because some software could
>>>not handle long names, but could handle both upper and lower case, so
>>>an upper case character was used instead of an underscore=2E
>>
>>[citation needed]
>
>Try reading=20
>https://en=2Ewikipedia=2Eorg/wiki/Naming_convention_(programming)#Length_=
of_identifiers

Mentions absolutely nothing about the origins of CamelCase, which a quick =
search suggests is somewhat unknown=2E One theory is apparently environment=
s whose character sets had replaced underscore with a left-arrow assignment=
 operator=2E Which, again, is fascinating but is as irrelevant to designing=
 modern languages as the origins of the word "beef" is to ordering a cheese=
burger=2E


>Some studies have shown that that most people find it easier to read=20
>compound names which use the underscore separator=2E Look at the
>following:
>
>https://en=2Ewikipedia=2Eorg/wiki/Camel_case#Readability_studies
>https://en=2Ewikipedia=2Eorg/wiki/Snake_case  (first paragraph)


This, however, is at least tangentially relevant to the original topic, si=
nce it shows some reasons to pick one convention over the other=2E

Even more relevant would be studies testing the advantages of having a con=
vention at all, which I would expect to include increased efficiency and re=
duced mistakes because it's easier to remember a list of items that follow =
a fixed pattern=2E

Regards,

--=20
Rowan Collins
[IMSoP]