Function names in C Capitalize or not

Question

What s the convention for naming functions in C     I come from the Java environment so I usually name something like   myFunction            I ve seen mixed code in C      myFunction       MyFunction       Myfunction         What s the correct way   Also  is it the same for a class method as well as a non-class method

User · Answer

I think its a matter of preference  although i prefer myFunction

User · Answer

Personally  I prefer thisStyle to ThisStyle for functions  This is really for personal taste  probably Java-influenced  but I quite like functions and classes to look different   If I had to argue for it  though  I d say that the distinction is slightly more than just aesthetic  It saves a tiny bit of thought when you come across function-style construction of a temporary  Against that  you can argue that it doesn t actually matter whether Foo 1 2 3  is a function call or not - if it is a constructor  then it acts exactly like a function returning a Foo by value anyway   The convention also avoids the function-with-same-name-as-a-class-is-not-an-error fiasco that C   inherits because C has a separate tag namespace    include  lt iostream gt   struct Bar       int a      Bar     a 0         Bar int a    a a         struct Foo       Bar b      int Bar         return 23     int main         Foo f      f b   Bar           outputs 23     std  cout  lt  lt  f b a  lt  lt    n          This line doesn t compile  The function has hidden the class         Bar b      Bar is  after all  both a noun and a verb  so could reasonably be defined as a class in one place and a function in another  Obviously there are better ways to avoid the clash  such as proper use of namespaces  So as I say  really it s just because I prefer the look of functions with lower-case initials rather than because it s actually necessary to distinguish them from from classes

User · Answer

As others said  there is no such thing in C    Having said that  I tend to use the style in which the standard library is written - K  amp  R   Also  see the FAQ entry by Bjarne Stroustrup

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Most code I ve seen is camelCase functions  lower case initial letter   and ProperCase PascalCase class names  and  most usually   snake case variables   But  to be honest  this is all just guidance   The single most important thing is to be consistent across your code base   Pick what seems natural   works for you  and stick to it   If you re joining a project in progress  follow their standards

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Do as you wish  as long as your are consistent among your dev  group  every few years the conventions changes       remmeber nIntVAr

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Unlike Java  C   doesn t have a  standard style   Pretty much very company I ve ever worked at has its own C   coding style  and most open source projects have their own styles too  A few coding conventions you might want to look at    GNU Coding Standards  mostly C  but mentions C    Google C   Style Guide C   Coding Standards  101 Rules  Guidelines  and Best Practices   It s interesting to note that C   coding standards often specify which parts of the language not to use  For example  the Google C   Style Guide says  We do not use C   exceptions   Almost everywhere I ve worked has prohibited certain parts of C     One place I worked basically said   program in C  but new and delete are okay

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There isn t a  correct way   They re all syntactically correct  though there are some conventions  You could follow the Google style guide  although there are others out there   From said guide      Regular functions have mixed case  accessors and mutators match the name of the variable     MyExcitingFunction    MyExcitingMethod    my exciting member variable    set my exciting member variable

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There isn t so much a  correct  way for the language   It s more personal preference or what the standard is for your team   I usually use the myFunction   when I m doing my own code   Also  a style you didn t mention that you will often see in C   is my function   - no caps  underscores instead of spaces   Really it is just dictated by the code your working in   Or  if it s your own project  your own personal preference then

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The most common ones I see in production code are  in this order    myFunctionName        lower camel case  MyFunctionName        upper camel case  my function name      K  amp  R     I find the naming convention a programmer uses in C   code usually has something to do with their programming background   E g  ex-java programmers tend to use lower camel case for functions

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If you look at the standard libraries the pattern generally is my function  but every person does seem to have their own way  -

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Since C  11  you may want to use either snake case or camelCase for function names   This is because to make a class work as the range-expression in a range-based for-loop  you have to define functions called begin and end  case-sensitive  for that class   Consequently  using e g  PascalCase for function names means you have to break the naming consistency in your project if you ever need to make a class work with the range-based for

User · Answer

It all depends on your definition of correct  There are many ways in which you can evaluate your coding style  Readability is an important one  for me   That is why I would use the my function way of writing function names and variable names

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