Model element naming conventions

I cannot overstate the value of strict adhererence to a naming convention, especially when it comes to managing large model sets.

This isn't just about making the models pretty or satisfying an obession for neatness.

It's about getting your models up and running as soon as possible and not having to waste half a day chasing down a minor mis-naming bug, that, for the life of you, you just don't see.

Let's say that during execution, your models keep breaking for some reason. And it turns out its because of a subtle typo in a name or a name in the wrong place. If you follow naming conventions you are much more likely to notice the type name where an attribute name should have been because you saw the initial caps in each of the name's words and knew that couldn't be right!

This kind of thing happens all the time and I am always grateful when my naming conventions help me recognize an error on the spot.

Class mames

All words in title case

Attribute names

Initial cap first word only

State names

Wait states

All letters in capitals

Transitory states

First word in initial caps (question mark at end of name allowed)

Parameter names

All words lower case

Event names

First word in initial caps

Type names

Each word has initial cap