[llvm-dev] RFC: changing variable naming rules in LLVM codebase (original) (raw)

Alex Bradbury via llvm-dev llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org
Fri Feb 15 02:15:03 PST 2019

On Mon, 11 Feb 2019 at 23:20, Philip Reames via llvm-dev <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:

I don't care about the convention, but I'm really not sure it's worth the churn which would result in the code base. The hurtle which needs cleared here is not "is it a better naming style", but "is the disruption implied by changing to the new convention justified". To be clear, not opposed, just hesitant.

I have the same concern. The whole advantage of a common coding convention is consistency. There are exceptions, but the vast majority of LLVM and Clang code I've read does indeed stick to the current CamelCase convention. Unless there's a plan for conversion then the practical impact of the naming convention change is that the codebase will be a muddle of mixed conventions for years. That seems like a regression, even if camelBack is a better convention.

On a more practical note, if the intent is to move to camelBack I think it would be worth adding an example to the coding standard for handling an acronym. e.g. is it the intent that TTI would become tti.

Best,

Alex

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