Advanced Oracle PL/SQL Programming with Packages

2.3. Selecting Package Names

Have you ever noticed that a package is never executed or referenced? The package is only a container for all the elements inside the package. In your code you will execute package-based procedures and functions. You will reference package-based constants, variables, cursors, and so on. Consequently, all references to package-based elements are accomplished with qualified notation: package.element. You should take this format into account when you name both the package and the elements within a package.

In this section I discuss the following aspects of naming package-based elements:

• Choosing appropriate and accurate names.

• Avoiding redundancy.

• Avoiding superfluous naming elements.

If you follow the advice in this section, you will design packages that are more easily used and understood by other developers.

2.3.1. Choosing Appropriate and Accurate Names

As a rule, developers are much too careless about the names they give to their packages and the elements inside those packages, (most importantly, procedures and functions.) There are two aspects to coming up with the right names for your code elements:

• The structure of the name should match the role that element plays in your code.

• The name should reflect what the element does in your code.

Have you ever thought about the structure of the names you choose? PL/SQL is a computer language. It is much simpler than human languages like Japanese or English, but it still has many of the same grammatical ...