Programming .NET Components, 2nd Edition

Naming Conventions and Styles

1. Use Pascal casing for type and method names and constants:

   public class SomeClass
   {
      const int DefaultSize = 100;
      public SomeMethod()
      {}
   }

2. Use camel casing for local variable names and method arguments:

   int number;
   void MyMethod(int someNumber)
   {}

3. Prefix interface names with I:

   interface IMyInterface
   {..}

4. Prefix private member variables with m_.

5. Suffix custom attribute classes with Attribute.

6. Suffix custom exception classes with Exception.

7. Name methods using verb/object pairs, such as ShowDialog().

8. Methods with return values should have names describing the values returned, such as GetObjectState().

9. Use descriptive variable names.

   1. Avoid single-character variable names, such as i or t. Use index or temp instead.

   2. Avoid using Hungarian notation for public or protected members.

   3. Avoid abbreviating words (such as num instead of number).

10. Always use C# predefined types, rather than the aliases in the System namespace. For example:

    object NOT Object
    string NOT String
    intNOT Int32

11. With generics, use capital letters for types. Reserve suffixing Type for when dealing with the .NET type Type:

    //Correct:
    public class LinkedList<K,T>
    {...}
    //Avoid:
    public class LinkedList<KeyType,DataType>
    {...}

12. Use meaningful namespace names, such as the product name or the company name.

13. Avoid fully qualified type names. Use the using statement instead.

14. Avoid putting a using statement inside a namespace.

15. Group all framework namespaces together and put custom or third-party namespaces underneath:

    using System; ...