CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++function
pingu
pingu

Reputation: 8827

Function Declaration Parameter Naming Best Practices (C++)

In a function declaration, while the parameters do not have to be named, is it preferable to have them named? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 558

Answers (6)

sbi
sbi

Reputation: 224189

The advantage of naming them is that you can refer to them in the documentation. (This includes your editor/IDE picking them up and presenting them to you as hints when you type a call to such a function.)

A disadvantage would be that names might change according to the function's implementation, except for the fact that the names in a function declaration might differ from those in the function's definition. (IOW: I see no disadvantage.)

Upvotes: 7

Andrew Rasmussen
Andrew Rasmussen

Reputation: 15109

In the declaration there aren't really any programmatic advantages or disadvantages. However, there is one style advantage that I can think of:

When you don't use a parameter in a function, you can not name this parameter in the declaration AND the definition:

void foo(int);

void foo(int)
{
}

Naming parameters that you don't use in the definition isn't illegal, but it is a lint warning! The style advantage that I mentioned would be not naming the parameters in the declaration so that someone who is browsing a header file will know that a certain parameter is not being used in the definition. However, this is only if you synchronize the not-named-ness between the definition and the declaration.

Here's an example of when you might want to not name a parameter:

class Base
{
    virtual void foo(int a) = 0;
};

class Child1
{
    virtual void foo(int a) { std::cout << a + 1 << std::endl; }
};

class Child2
{
    virtual void foo(int) { std::cout << "mwahaha" << std::endl; }
};

In this case, the parameter isn't named, but still must be supplied because the function prototype must match that of its parent.

Upvotes: 0

parapura rajkumar
parapura rajkumar

Reputation: 24433

One advantage is that they can convey more information when parameter types are the same

Consider 

CoordSystem CreateCoordinateSystem( const UnitVector& xdirection, 
    const UnitVector& ydirection, const UnitVector& zdirection
)

over 

CoordSystem CreateCoordinateSystem( const UnitVector& , 
    const UnitVector& , const UnitVector& )

Upvotes: 1

user949814
user949814

Reputation:

This is more of a question of style. Personally, if I see a function declaration without named parameters, I find it hard to read. I think the more strong you can type C++, the better it is.

Upvotes: 1

Sergey Kalinichenko
Sergey Kalinichenko

Reputation: 727077

Naming parameters has a significant advantage when you work with IDEs that support auto-completion. When you start typing the name of your function, the IDE pops up a list of suggestions. Seeing findUser(string firstName, string lastName) tells you a lot more than simply findUser(string,string).

Upvotes: 3

James
James

Reputation: 9288

For documentation reasons mainly

Upvotes: 3

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