Naming Convention

The neoGFX naming convention is based on the idea that to aid readability it is better to encode scope rather than type in an identifier name prefix. The idea of encoding scope in identifier names was introduced by the smartphone operating system Symbian OS.

The following table lists the various C++ syntactical constructs with their associated convention:

neoGFX Naming Convention

Construct	Convention	Example	Note
macro	UPPER_SNAKE_CASE	MY_MACRO	snake_case is used for in-class event definition macros
function name	snake_case	my_function
struct/class name	snake_case	my_class
interface class name	snake_case; i_ prefix	i_my_interface	an interface class does not have any member variables, containing only pure virtual functions and any associated helper functions
enum class name	snake_case	my_enum
enum name	snake_case; _e suffix	my_enum_e
enumerator	UpperCamelCase	MyEnumerator
function parameter	CamelCase; a prefix	myVariable	"a" for argument
local variable	lowerCamelCase	myVariable
member variable (class)	CamelCase; i prefix	iMyVariable	"i" for class instance variable
member variable (struct)	lowerCamelCase	myVariable	use struct for classes that don't have a class invariant
variable with static storage duration	CamelCase; s prefix	sMyVariable
variable with thread local storage duration	CamelCase; t prefix	tMyVariable
event object	UpperCamelCase	MyEvent
event (virtual) function	snake_case	my_event

Example class:

class foo
{
public:
   foo(int aValue) : iValue{ aValue }
   {
   }
public:
   int value() const
   {
       return iValue;
   }
   void something()
   {
       thread_local qux tQux;
       /* ... code ... */
   }
private:
   int iValue;
};