From: Gavin Kistner <gavin@...>
Date: 2004-02-23T22:54:49+09:00
Subject: Appropriate use of camelCase

Following the 'instance variable capitalization' thread, I'm convinced 
that I should be trying to learn the Ruby idioms. Now I just need to 
learn what they are.

While writing my ValidForm library (http://phrogz.net/RubyLibs/) I 
realized that I was mixing camelCase [which I love] with 
whatever_you_call_this_case [which I don't, but I see that Ruby uses a 
lot of]. (BTW...what *do* you call that naming style? snake_case? That's 
what I'll call it until someone corrects me.)

I tried starting to eradicate camelCase, but found that I just couldn't 
do it completely[1], and came up with the following idiom for that 
particular library[2]:

* 'Verb' methods (named like they do something, and generally called 
with parameters, or where the action they produce is more important than 
their return value) I named using snake_case.

* 'Noun' methods (aka 'property' methods...methods which behave like 
getters and setters of an internal instance variable [whether or not 
they actually do] which are called explicitly to get a return value or 
with a foo= assignment method to set a value) I named using camelCase.



I was very proud of my semi-rational rationale, in finding a way that I 
felt was both Ruby-esque, which actually sort of conveyed additional 
information with the camelCase vs. snake_case usage. But I realize it's 
an idiom I made up completely on my own.


So, to the Question: is the above just a Bad Idea? Is camelCase *ever* 
considered appropriate in Ruby?

- Gavin


[1] The problem for me (and this is not to start a flame war, just a 
personal exposition) is that camelCase is just so much easier to type, 
and (to me) LOOKS like a property.

[2] Whether or not I succeeded in religiously adhering to my proposed 
idiom I'm not sure...I got disheartened after a while of global 
find/replaces, upon how many pretty camelCases were disappearing.

-- 
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