Question

If I’ve got a variable that contains the fully-qualified name of a file (for example, a project file), should it be called projectFile, projectFileName or projectPath? Or something else?

Answer 1

I usually go with these:

• FileName for the file name only (without path)
• FilePath for the parent path only (without the file name)
• FileFullName for the fully qualified name with path

I don’t think there is such a thing as an accepted standard for this. I depends on your (team’s) preferences and whether you need to differentiate between the three in a given situation.

EDIT: My thoughts on these particular naming conventions are these:

• intuitively, a ‘Name’ is a string, so is a ‘Path’ (and a ‘FileName’)
• a ‘Name’ is relative unless it is a ‘FullName’
• related variable names should begin with the same prefix (‘File’ + …), I think this improves readability
• concretions/properties are right-branching: ‘File’ -> ‘FileName’
• specializations are left-branching: ‘FileName’ -> ‘ProjectFileName’ (or ‘ProjectFileFullName’)
• a ‘File’ is an object/handle representing a physical object, so ‘ProjectFile’ cannot be a string

I cannot always stick to these conventions, but I try to. If I decided to use a particular naming pattern I am consistent even if it means that I have to write more descriptive (= longer) variable names. Code is more often read than written, so the little extra typing doesn’t bother me too much.