问题
Let's suppose that I need to store the number of foo objects in a variable.
Not being a native English speaker, I always wonder what's the best (= short and immediately clear) name for that var.
foo_num? num_foo? no_foo? foo_no? or something else?
The full name should be number_of_foos, but it's a bit verbose.
What's your favorite and why?
回答1:
I go for fooCount because it is straightforward, and I think the word "count" is the shortest and the best that describes it, not "number of" or the like.
I go for FOO_COUNT if it you need to store it final and static(if you don't need to change it/if it is a constant). (all caps for constants!)
I go for count and calling it by Foo.count if you really have to store it as an attribute for a class that you made, which is Foo.
readability for you and for your team!
回答2:
Since the variable stores the count of the number of foo objects, fooCount gets my vote.
回答3:
The Linux kernel uses "nr_foo", which is better than "no_foo" (that looks like a negation). I myself tend to use "fooCount" or "fooCnt", but also sometimes "numFoo". I'm not sure why I vacillate between "fooCount" and "numFoo". Guess it depends on my mood. But you, you should be consistent (as should I) ;)
回答4:
In English, the words 'number' and 'count' can both act as nouns or verbs, but it's probably more common to see 'number' used as a noun, and 'count' as a verb. So you could argue that 'the number of foos' or 'num_foo' sounds more familiar than 'the foo count' or 'foo_count'. It certainly sounds more natural to me when referencing a quantity that isn't constantly changing. The word 'count', even when used as a noun, suggests to me a value that is going up over time.
Ruby and Python have .count methods, which demonstrate the word being used as a verb, rather than a noun. In Ruby you might say:
foos.count # Count how many elements in the array 'foos'
Still, this returns a value representing the number of foos, which is exactly what you might expect if you just referenced a variable called 'foo_count'. So in some ways, the fact that 'foos.count' and 'foo_count' look similar is kind of nice.
'Number' can be ambiguous in some instances, since it's common to store numbers that don't represent a quantity of something. Other people have mentioned IDs and credit card numbers already. Here's another example:
num_string
Looking at that variable name, could you guess what it represents? Is it an integer representing the quantity of strings, or is it a string representation of a number?
So I'm just thinking out loud really, and giving some pros and cons for each as I see them. The reason I'm even on this old page is because I find myself using the two inconsistently and thought I'd see what other people are doing.
BTW, I don't like 'nr_foo', as 'nr' really doesn't suggest or sound like the word 'number' to me at all. It sounds like 'ner', or perhaps stands for 'not rated' or 'national rugby'. :-) And I won't even venture to say what fooCnt sounds like. Just no.
回答5:
fooCount if the variable isn't a constant, FOO_COUNT if it is. :D
回答6:
I personally would go for total_foos or totalFoos depending on the language standard. It represents better that the value is a final total and not just a running count.
It also makes more sense to say "I have 3 total foos" rather than "I have a 3 count of foos".
Overall, it's not a huge deal but I always use total over count!
回答7:
Mostly fooCount like everybody said. Sometimes it is more appropriate to use foos, usually when you don't actually have the list of foos, or they aren't separate objects (e.g. seconds; for a pizza you can have slices, etc.)
Only use foos when there's no chance of confusion though - when it's obvious that you'd never have a list of foos in this context.
回答8:
I'd go for fooCount
回答9:
I tend to use fooCount or similar.
回答10:
I use for the quantity of somethings: somethingCount (something_count)
I use for the sequence number of somethings: somethingIndex (something_index), because the "number" word is ambiguous (it means the quantity and the sequence number)
来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3742650/naming-conventions-for-number-of-foos-variables