Anyone else find naming classes and methods one of the most difficult parts in programming? [closed]

Question

What you are doing now is fine, and I highly recommend you stick with your current syntax, being:

context + verb + how

I use this method to name functions/methods, SQL stored procs, etc. By keeping with this syntax, it will keep your Intellisense/Code Panes much more neat. So you want EmployeeGetByID() EmployeeAdd(), EmployeeDeleteByID(). When you use a more grammatically correct syntax such as GetEmployee(), AddEmployee() you'll see that this gets really messy if you have multiple Gets in the same class as unrelated things will be grouped together.

I akin this to naming files with dates, you want to say 2009-01-07.log not 1-7-2009.log because after you have a bunch of them, the order becomes totally useless.

One lesson I have learned, is that if you can't find a name for a class, there is almost always something wrong with that class:

• you don't need it
• it does too much

A good naming convention should minimize the number of possible names you can use for any given variable, class, method, or function. If there is only one possible name, you'll never have trouble remembering it.

For functions and for singleton classes, I scrutinize the function to see if its basic function is to transform one kind of thing into another kind of thing. I'm using that term very loosely, but you'll discover that a HUGE number of functions that you write essentially take something in one form and produce something in another form.

In your case it sounds like your class transforms a Url into a Document. It's a little bit weird to think of it that way, but perfectly correct, and when you start looking for this pattern, you'll see it everywhere.

When I find this pattern, I always name the function xFromy.

Since your function transforms a Url into a Document, I would name it

DocumentFromUrl

This pattern is remarkably common. For example:

atoi -> IntFromString
GetWindowWidth -> WidthInPixelsFromHwnd // or DxFromWnd if you like Hungarian
CreateProcess -> ProcessFromCommandLine

You could also use UrlToDocument if you're more comfortable with that order. Whether you say xFromy or yTox is probably a matter of taste, but I prefer the From order because that way the beginning of the function name already tells you what type it returns.

Pick one convention and stick to it. If you are careful to use the same names as your class names in your xFromy functions, it'll be a lot easier to remember what names you used. Of course, this pattern doesn't work for everything, but it does work where you're writing code that can be thought of as "functional."

Sometimes there isn't a good name for a class or method, it happens to us all. Often times, however, the inability to come up with a name may be a hint to something wrong with your design. Does your method have too many responsibilities? Does your class encapsulate a coherent idea?

Thread 1:

function programming_job(){
    while (i make classes){
         Give each class a name quickly; always fairly long and descriptive.
         Implement and test each class to see what they really are. 
         while (not satisfied){
            Re-visit each class and make small adjustments 
         }
    }
}

Thread 2:

while(true){
      if (any code smells bad){
           rework, rename until at least somewhat better
      }
}

There's no Thread.sleep(...) anywhere here.

I do spend a lot of time as well worrying about the names of anything that can be given a name when I am programming. I'd say it pays off very well though. Sometimes when I am stuck I leave it for a while and during a coffee break I ask around a bit if someone has a good suggestion.

For your class I'd suggest VendorHelpDocRequester.

The book Code Complete by Steve Mcconnell has a nice chapter on naming variables/classes/functions/...