Naming Conventions What to name a boolean variable

Question

I need a good variable name for a boolean value that returns false when an object is the last in a list   The only decent name I can come up with is  inFront   but I don t think that is descriptive enough     Another choose would be  isNotLast    This is not good practice though  Code Complete  page 269  Use positive boolean variable names    I am aware that I could change the variable definition   So true is returned when an object is the last and call the variable  isLast   however  it would make this task easier if I had the first explanation

User · Answer

A simple semantic name would be last  This would allow code always positive code like   if  item last           do            until  item last

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How about       hasSiblings  or isFollowedBySiblings  or isFolloedByItems  or isFollowedByOtherItems etc    or moreItems   Although I think that even though you shouldn t make a habit of braking  the rules  sometimes the best way to accomplish something may be to make an exception of the rule  Code Complete guidelines   and in your case  name the variable isNotLast

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Two issues to think about   What is the scope of the variable  in other words  are you speaking about a local variable or a field     A local variable has a narrower scope compared to a field  In particular  if the variable is used inside a relatively short method I would not care so much about its name  When the scope is large naming is more important  I think there s an inherent conflict in the way you treat this variable  On the one hand you say  false when an object is the last in a list   where on the other hand you also want  to call it  inFront   An object that is  not  last in the list does not strike me as  not  inFront  This I would go with isLast

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isBeforeTheLastItem  isInFrontOfTheLastItem  isTowardsTheFrontOfTheList   Maybe too wordy but they may help give you ideas

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isPenultimateOrPrior  isBeforeEnd

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hasFollowingItems  or hasFollowingXXXXs where XXXX is whatever the item in your list is

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My vote would be to name it IsLast and change the functionality   If that isn t really an option  I d leave the name as IsNotLast     I agree with Code Complete  Use positive boolean variable names   I also believe that rules are made to be broken   The key is to break them only when you absoluately have to   In this case  none of the alternative names are as clear as the name that  breaks  the rule   So this is one of those times where breaking the rule can be okay

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Personally more than anything I would change the logic  or look at the business rules to see if they dictate any potential naming   Since  the actual condition that toggles the boolean is actually the act of being  last    I would say that switching the logic  and naming it  IsLastItem  or similar would be a more preferred method

User · Answer

Haskell uses init to refer to all but the last element of a list  the inverse of tail  basically   would isInInit work  or is that too opaque

[coding-style] Naming Conventions: What to name a boolean variable?

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