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From: Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Naming conventions (was Re: valgrind leak I can't find)
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2024 17:10:12 +0200
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On 22.08.2024 16:01, Thiago Adams wrote:
> 
> C++ also made the use of "struct/union/enum" before tags optional.
> 
> For example:
> 
> struct X x;
> 
> In C++, we can write:
> 
> X x;

Yes, because it's the "natural" form of a 'Type entity;' declaration.

With a 'class Player;' we write 'Player p;' as we do with an 'int i;'
I don't think it would be a good idea to have to write 'class Player p;'
or 'struct Player p;'. (Mileages may vary.)

In C++ the C's special type 'struct' has been merged in a generalized
form of type, a 'class'.

It may be different for the inherited unions or enums, but anyway...
If I declare a type and give it a name I want to refer to it by that
name in object declarations and not repeat (unnecessary) keywords.
(That's what I'm used to also from other programming languages.)

> 
> Consequence?

(C has to struggle with its own inconsistencies since ever. Whether
some C++ language design conventions backfire to C... - well, hard to
tell. I don't think we can clearly deduce or prove any such (social)
effects; at least I cannot.)

> 
> Programmers started using a suffix "C" for classes and "E" for enums.
> 
> For example:
> 
> CArray array;
> EType type;

Yes, I'm well aware of some folks doing so. (That's one point I have
expressed in my previous post. Yet I don't see any advantage in doing
so and haven't heard any substantial rationale for that.)

> 
> 
> In C, we have a similar situation where it's sometimes unclear where a
> variable comes from.
> 
> Consider this code:
> 
> void f(int arg1){
>   i = 2;
> }
> 
> This can happen with external variables.
> 
> For instance:
> 
> int i;
> void f(int arg1){
>   i = 2;
> }
> 
> 
> In this situation, I use a prefix "s_" for the variable, like this:
> 
> 
> int s_i;

I'd most likely pass the value through a well defined interface
in such cases; either use (here) the unused function return value,
or add a function argument and pass '&i' to set '*iptr=2' instead
of relying on side-effects accessing global variables, or in more
complex application data cases add a function parameter-object.

Preferences vary, of course, also depending on context.

Janis