What do you think?

[Michael P Butler]

Rocky Moore wrote:

Do you use/like the "_" to prefix private members? I personal hate variables prefixed with with _underscores _as _it _can _make _reading _code() _a _pain! In the old days of Assembler and some C code, we lived with it all the time, but I had hoped to never see them again. Now much of the code released by MS has private members prefixed. So, what you think?

I do in my .NET code. All my class member variables are _ prefixed. Of course most of the time, I access them via Properties rather than directly using the variable. I can't remembered why I moved to _ prefix. It was either because FxCop whined about it or because of some VB issue. In C++, I used m_ so the _prefix is kind of keeping up a long tradition.

Michael CP Blog [^] Development Blog [^]

[Mustafa Ismail Mustafa]

I use pascal notation with an "_" for the private members. Picked up the habit at from my uncle ( he was a crack shot C coder working for ComputerVision out of Mass.) and I kept with it. It actually improves readability.

There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who don't... ______________________ Its the idiot who stops learning and the wise that keep asking you questions!!!! ______________________ "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook

[Stick]

Isn't there a saying, "When in Windows, do as Microsoft?" I use m_ mainly as it groups all the member vars together in my suggestions box, however with VA X, if I didn't, I could just click to display only the private members or whatever. But it saves me a click. Read a good discussion about it in Code Complete 2nd Edition. Patrick

[Tim Craig]

No! And I don't like seeing it on members in public either. ;P

The evolution of the human genome is too important to be left to chance idiots like CSS.

[DavidNohejl]

Stick^ wrote:

Read a good discussion about it in Code Complete 2nd Edition.

I didn't get there yet, but yesterday I read capitol where is suggested that it might be good idea to prefix input parameters with i_, output parameters by o_ and parameters that will be modified by.... m_ ! :wtf:

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"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. " - Morpheus

[Bruce Chapman DNN]

I think like flared jeans and miniskirts, all fads have their time in the sun more than once. You can either sit on your high horse and declare all those around you to be of inferior quality, or you can join in the fun and just go with the flow. I used to adjHungarian nounEverything, nounNow nounIt vrbDrives pronounMe vrbInsane. (please no comments on grammar, i've no idea on sentence structure) I've gotten used to using _memberVar. It's handy because it allows you to use the same var twice in the one procedure, one for an incoming local value, and one for the _member version. I suspect in three years I'll be doing a global 'find/replace' on the _ character. To whatever is in fashion then. How else can you feel nostalgic looking at old code??

Bruce Chapman iFinity.com.au - Websites and Software Development Plithy remark available in Beta 2

[Stuart Dootson]

I use '_' as a suffix for private member data (which means either all member data of a class or none of it) in C++. However, the rest of the naming is camel-case (capitalized for functions and classes):

class SampleClass
{
public:
   int SomeMethod() const;
private:
   int aDataMember_;
};

[Chris_Green]

You'll love this: I use both, but consistently. Any variable which belong in the header file is prefixed with m_ Any control is prefixed with _TypeDescriptor such as _EditTest or _ButtonGo. It does make working with the code, especially via IntelliSense, remarkably easy. All the variables are nicely grouped. And all the controls are grouped separately and sorted by type.

[Pete OHanlon]

JimmyRopes wrote:

Did you mean strNo?

Surely it's lpszNo.

the last thing I want to see is some pasty-faced geek with skin so pale that it's almost translucent trying to bump parts with a partner - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.

[Lost User]

Same here.

The tigress is here :-D

[Bogdan Damian]

I use it only this notation for private vars from classes :)

damianbc Developer

[Jorgen Sigvardsson]

Tim Craig wrote:

The evolution of the human genome is too important to be left to chance idiots like CSS.

Does that qualify as meta-evolution? :)

-- Verletzen zerfetzen zersetzen zerstören Doch es darf nicht mir gehören Ich muss zerstören

[Mike Dimmick]

Various C++ authors suggest using a trailing underscore for a member variable, but that's even worse, IMO - especially when it's a pointer, since you have to release Shift in order to dereference (to type the '-' of ->).

Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder

[beatle11]

Well I like using some prefix. either 'm_' or just the '_'. With C++ for example you can use the 'this' keyword to differentiate but i find it more annoying and confusing to read code this way as I'm sure many programmers do.

[Claus Brinch Jensen]

Personally I love using the '_' prefix. It tells you instantly that you are dealing with a private member variable and it doesn't decrease readability at all, IMO. In fact, I have always preferred lower-case underscored names over camelBack for readability as it resembles normal text more closely. In addition it has been a well founded convention for many years to prefix proprietary/private/non-standard data/functions with an underscore, and I think private member variables fit that category perfectly. Claus

[Phil Harding]

Rocky Moore wrote:

Do you use/like the "_" to prefix private members

Firmly in the "m_" camp for class attributes (member variables is sooo last season) :)

Phil Harding.
myBlog [^] | mySite [^]

[machowski lukasz]

i hate prefix "_", because code is not intuitive and reading this is very uncomfortable. I'm programing in c#. Regards Łukasz

[Jon W]

I Like them! :rose: Why? I'm a VB.NET developer... to write none language dependent code is like coding to interfaces instead of implementations ;P What do I mean? Well to easily convert / write / use code from BOTH c# and VB.Net "_" simplifies a great bit... Mainly because vb.net is not case sensitive. I find the "_" char the least disturbing in reading / skimming through code. The m_ prefix i dislike the m_ prefix as I consider it outdated; as far as I know the m stands for member, and if I want to now a class member I take a look in the Object browser, or use the "Me" (this in c#) ex: Me._myFieldName therefore in my opinion -> m_ adds "nothing". As the previous post states, the _ is used for private members and therefore encapsulated by the class and you work with the public properties / methods instead i.o.w not that big of a problem (in my humble opinion) in contrast to language independence.

[David Veeneman]

I hated it at first, but got used to it. I use 'm_' for member variables, and 'p_' for property variables. I still hate the underscore by itself, like '_this'.

David Veeneman www.veeneman.com

[realJSOP]

I'm not missing. I am working on a series of articles for CP since all the local roads are closed and I can't get to work. :) I only prefix compiler definitions with underscores, like so:

#define _USE_THIS_MSG_ WM_APP+1

I don't prefix variables with underscores, and don't embed variable names with underscores beyond the gratuitous "m_".

"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001