Variable Naming Conventions and Best Practices

Naming styles

naming styles for identifiers like - variables, constants, functions, classes
naming doesnt affect the functionality - it just improoves the readability

Commonly used naming conventions

single lowercase letter
- loop variables - i and j
single uppercase letter
full lowercase name
lowercase with underscore name_var_three (snake case)
full uppercase
- typically used with constants
full uppercase with underscores
capitalized words VarThree (camel case - pascal case)
- typically used with classes
- upper camel case VarThree
- lower camel case camelCase

Bad naming styles

capitalized words with underscores Var_Three_Four

Variable naming rules and conventions

Rules

a variable name must start with a letter or underscore
a variable name cannot start with a number
variable names can only contain alphanumeric characters and underscores
variable names are case sensitive
variables cannot contain spaces

Styles

variables should be written in lowercase with words seperated by underscores variable_one ... snake_case (same with function names)

Variable naming best practices

choose meaningful names
dont use variable names that dont represent thier actual value
- a variable named clients_list should not be a tuple
variables should be meaningful and distinct
variable named should be pronounceable .... player_score is better than plr_score

Variable names to avoid

dont use lowercase l as a single character variable (larry)
dont use uppercase O as a single character variable (oliver)

How to solve naming conflicts with Python keywords

keywords are reserved words that cannot be used as variable names, function names or any other identifier
to see the python keywords in the interactive shell.... help() then keywords
if you need to use one of the keywords you can add a single trailing underscore... list_.... class_

Constants in Python

a constant is a value that cannot change during the execution of the program
constants are usually written on a module level and are written in all capital letters with underscores seperating words.... MAX_OVERFLOW or TOTAL
CONSTANT_NAME
In Python you cant actually create constants that cant change, but you can recognize the naming convention and not change thier values

Boolean variables

boolean variables should typically start with is or has
EX: is_valid or has_pets or has_children or is_logged_in