CODEWITHSUNDEEP
.netnaming-conventions
fejesjoco
fejesjoco

Reputation: 11903

character casing for abbreviations in dotnet

Have you ever wondered why MS doesn't write abbreviations in all upper case? Like Guid, BmpBitmapEncoder, System.Net.Mime, HttpWebRequest, XmlDocument, etc., instead of GUID, BMPBitmapEncoder, System.Net.MIME, HTTPWebRequest, XMLDocument. I suspect it's for better readability, but in my opinion, it's worse, and maybe even a bit incorrect. Is there an MS document that explains why they decided to do it like this? I'm sure it's intentional, but here's a bonus question, find a name in the BCL which contains an all upper case abbreviation :)

Upvotes: 2

Views: 485

Answers (2)

driis
driis

Reputation: 164301

I haven't been able to find a reference to why it is so (but I expect readability was the concern). However, it is stated in the guidelines, that abbreviations with more than 2 letters should be PascalCased.

"Do capitalize only the first character of acronyms with three or more characters, except the first word of a camel-cased identifier."

Upvotes: 0

Ben Voigt
Ben Voigt

Reputation: 283684

The rule they use is that two-character acronyms are left uppercase: IOException

While longer acronyms are treated as words and use initial cap.

From http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229043.aspx:

The following guidelines specify the proper casing for short and long acronyms. The identifier casing rules take precedence over acronym casing rules.

Do capitalize both characters of two-character acronyms, except the first word of a camel-cased identifier.

A property named DBRate is an example of a short acronym (DB) used as the first word of a Pascal-cased identifier. A parameter named ioChannel is an example of a short acronym (IO) used as the first word of a camel-cased identifier.

Do capitalize only the first character of acronyms with three or more characters, except the first word of a camel-cased identifier.

A class named XmlWriter is an example of a long acronym used as the first word of a Pascal-cased identifier. A parameter named htmlReader is an example of a long acronym used as the first word of a camel-cased identifier.

Do not capitalize any of the characters of any acronyms, whatever their length, at the beginning of a camel-cased identifier.

A parameter named xmlStream is an example of a long acronym (xml) used as the first word of a camel-cased identifier. A parameter named dbServerName is an example of a short acronym (db) used as the first word of a camel-cased identifier.

Upvotes: 6

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