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 really all about getting your models up and running as soon as possible and not having to spend forever chasing down minor bugs.

For example, 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 that you just aren't seeing. If you follow naming conventions you are much more likely to see that you specified a type where an attribute name should have been since you notice the initial caps in each of the name's words.

That's just one example of many, in my experience, where I saw a problem immediately simply by noticing a name out of place.

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