[wp-hackers] prefix vs postfix - pros and cons

[Chris Taylor - stillbreathing.co.uk]

I assume this is for use within a WordPress system, yes? In which case
be aware that BuddyPress uses a bp_* convention for many of its
internal methods. Therefore your *_bp convention would be better.

Chris

On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 6:55 PM, Haluk Karamete <halukkaramete at gmail.com> wrote:
> when building a framework of library  functions, and you need to make
> sure your function and variable/constant names will not get mixed up
> by people's custom code, which way would you go? prefix your
> functions?, or postfix them?
>
> I'm building a library of php functions ( expected to be around 200
> functions or so ) to ease my day to day operations and I need to adopt
> a style.
> I would like to pick your brains. My library will be called blueprint,
> so the prefix/postfix would be either bp_ or _bp. Which one is better?
>
> example leftof functiond, takes a string and returns the leftof what's
> passed as substring.
>
> so, ahuold this leftof functions be preifxed as
>
> bp_leftof($string,$substring)
>
> or postfixed as
>
> leftof_bp($string,$substring)
>
> it appears to me that the latter is more effective because of two reasons
>
> one is intellisense... the moment you type in "ins" for insert, you
> get your dropdown instantly. In the prefix approach, the first 3 chars
> gets me no where.
>
> secondly, when think of an action, you think of it directly, insert a
> record, or list records, etc. So, you'd instinctively go for typing
> that action such as insert_record,  rather than
> something_insert_record.
>
> The only advantage I see in prefixing is that in a functions list (
> where your frameworks' functions mixed up with other frameworks), you
> can see that your library of functions are all lumped together when
> sorted alphabetically. But practically speaking, I don't see much
> benefit to that.
>
> When it comes to file naming convetions, I'd go for prefix though. But
> it has its own dynamics, in file operations, alphabetical sorting is
> practical.
>
> My question is on specifically function and variable names which are
> typed/thought a lot.
>
> So,
>
> bp_leftof($string,$substring)
>
> or
>
> leftof_bp($string,$substring)
>
> Thanks
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