We have to adopt a style for each of the languages we're presenting. We won't present a complete set of coding standards; we will omit a number of issues that should be standardized. Some IT shops have documents they call “coding standards”, but are little more than descriptive style guides. What follows is not this kind of style guide; instead, it is some justification of the style we use for the examples in this book.

Just to continune this rant, we find that source code examples speak louder than any gratuitously detailed “specification” of the desired style. We find that some IT organizations waste time trying to write definitions of the preferred style. A good example trumps the description of the example. In particular, as consultants, we are often asked to provide standards to an inexperienced team of programmers. While the programmers only look at the examples (often cutting and pasting them), some managers prefer to spend money on empty verbiage peripheral to the useful example.

We use Java-centric terminology -- “field” and “method” -- throughout the book. Occaisionally, we will emphasize the differences between Java and Python by using the Python terms “attribute”, “instance variable” or “method function”.

We avoid using complex prefixes for variable names. In particular, we find prefixes to be little more than visual clutter. For example, an integer parameter with the amount of a bet might be called pi_amount where the prefix indicates the scope (p for a parameter) and type (i for an integer).

This style of name is only appropriate for primitive types, and doesn't address complex data structures well at all. How does one name a parameter that is a LinkedList of Sets of Outcomes? In Java programs, the variables are formally declared, therefore, we find that we don't need additional cues for their data type.

In some cases, prefixes are used to denote the scope of an instance variables. Variable names might include a cryptic one-letter prefix like “f” to denote an instance variable; sometimes programmers will use “my” or “the” as an English-like prefix. We prefer to reduce clutter. In Java, we have the qualifier this. available to disambiguate parameter from instance variable references. In Python, instance variables are always qualified, typically by self., making the scope very clear.