Naming Methods

When you name methods, use meaningful names.

• Because every method handles a part of our problem, when naming it we should keep in mind the action it does, i.e. it is a good practice for the name to describe what the method does.
• Each method must do only one task and its name should describe this task. This principle in programming is known as “strong cohesion”.
• In C# the method name must start with uppercase letter and should be made of a verb or a couple: verb + noun. The name is formatted by following the Upper Camel Case convention (PascalCase), i.e. each word, including the first one, starts with uppercase.
• The brackets ( and ) always follow the name (without spaces).

A few examples for correctly named methods:

• FindStudent
• LoadReport
• Sine

A few examples for incorrectly named methods (think why):

• Method1
• DoSomething
• HandleStuff
• SampleMethod
• DirtyHack

If you cannot think of an appropriate name, then the method most probably solves more than one task or doesn't have a clearly defined purpose and in this case you have to think how to split it into several simpler methods.

Naming Method Parameters

When naming the parameters of a method you can apply almost the same rules as with the methods themselves. The difference here is that it is good for the names of the parameters to use a noun or a couple of an adjective and a noun, and when naming the parameters, we use the lowerCamelCase convention, i.e. each word except for the first one starts with uppercase. We should note that it is a good practice that the name of the parameter shows what unit is used when working with it.

A few examples for correctly named parameters:

• firstName
• report
• speedKmH
• usersList
• fontSizeInPixels
• font

A few examples for incorrectly named parameters:

• p
• p1
• p2
• populate
• LastName
• last_name