Clear Naming Discipline

"There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things." — Phil Karlton

Code is read far more often than it is written. A bad name forces every future reader to inspect the underlying implementation just to understand what a function or variable holds. A good name makes the surrounding code self-evident.

1. The 6-Month Amnesia Test

Whenever you name a variable, function, class, file, or endpoint, ask:

"If I wake up with amnesia in 6 months and read this line, will I immediately know what it is and what it does? Will a new teammate guess its exact purpose on their first day?"

If the answer is "Only if they read the function body", the name has failed. Rename it.

2. Intent Over Mechanism

Name by what problem it solves and what data it represents, not the mechanical data structure or plumbing:

3. Language & Ecosystem Conventions

Always adhere to the idiom of the host language unless an explicit codebase convention overrides it:

• TypeScript / JavaScript:
  • camelCase for variables, properties, and functions (getUserSession, isOrgAdmin).
  • PascalCase for classes, types, interfaces, and React components (PaymentProcessor, UserProfileCard).
  • UPPER_SNAKE_CASE for immutable module-level constants (MAX_RETRY_ATTEMPTS).
• Python:
  • snake_case for functions, methods, and variables (calculate_tax, user_id).
  • PascalCase for classes (DatabaseConnection).
• Go / Rust: Follow standard idiomatic casing (userID, fetch_record).

4. Consistency Across Boundaries

Pick one verb per action in a subsystem and stick to it religiously. Do not mix semantic synonyms across files:

• If you use get... for database lookups, do not switch randomly to fetch..., retrieve..., or query....
• If you use delete..., do not switch between remove..., drop..., and destroy... for the same entity type.

5. Booleans as Clear Predicates

Booleans must sound like yes/no questions:

• Good: isEnabled, hasAccess, shouldRetry, canEdit, isPendingApproval.
• Bad: status (ambiguous), access (noun), check (sounds like a function).

6. Ban Cryptic Abbreviations

Unless an abbreviation is universally recognized in the domain (id, url, req, res, ctx, err), spell it out:

• Bad: usrMgrSvc, calcDiscTot(), custAddrStr.
• Good: userManager, calculateDiscountTotal(), customerAddress.