Naming conventions for regular variables

[Ben Finney]

mk <mrkafk at gmail.com> writes:

> http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/
> 
> "Function Names
> 
> Function names should be lowercase, with words separated by
> underscores     as necessary to improve readability."
> 
> However, this PEP does not recommend any particular style for naming
> regular (local) variables.

Yes, it does: "Method Names and Instance Variables" applies. Any
object that isn't a class is an "instance", to be named according to
that section.

> Personally I like "mixedCase"

Nothing in PEP 8 allows mixedCase (except for the rare degenerate case
where you're constrained to closely follow an existing naming
convention). It's always TitleCase or lowercase, with or without
underscores.

> Naming both functions and variables using "lowercase with underscore
> separator between words for readability" leads to confusing function
> names with variable names - and distinguishing between variables and
> function names just by looking at them would be nice.

Functions are first-class objects in Python, and many non-function
objects are callable. So, such an arbitrary distinction wouldn't be
helpful.

It's more sensible to distinguish by *usage*: is it being called or
not?

> Recommendations?

Follow PEP 8, including the avoidance of mixedCase.

-- 
 \       “I went to a general store. They wouldn't let me buy anything |
  `\                                     specifically.” —Steven Wright |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney