[Oberon] Identifiers and Capitalization

[John Drake]

--- jan verhoeven <jan at verhoeven272.nl> wrote:

> Op Tuesday 14 March 2006 23:26 schreef John Drake:
> 
>  > --- Thomas Frey <thomas.frey at alumni.ethz.ch>
> wrote:
>  > > For the newer Modules in Native Oberon and
>  > > especially in Bluebottle,
>  > > normally the following convention was used:
>  > >
>  > > Constant/Static "things" start capital. I.E.
>  > > Modules, Types,
>  > > Constants, Procedures.
>  > > Variables start small : Variables, Fields,
>  > > Parameters
>  > >
>  > > Variables used as Constants because there is no
>  > > static way for
>  > > initialization in the Language (Records/Arrays)
> are
>  > > used
>  > > inconsistently upper/lower case.
>  > >
>  > > --Thomas
>  >
>  > Well the original convention avoided that
>  > problem since variables and constants were
>  > treated the same.  (They start with lower
>  > case).  Perhaps this problem was the reason
>  > for that convention?
> 
> Originally, there wasn't a problem since my friend
> Wirth wanted to keep 
> modules small and comprehensible. In a 1000 line
> module, you just know 
> what's going on.

Well, personally I don't call a 1000 line module
"small" though I suppose it's all relative.
But the capitalization convention mentioned
was taken from one of the early books on Oberon
and it pretty much follows the same style
Wirth used.  Also I don't think one should be
over sensitive of the word "problem".  

> Keep it small and simple. Otherwise: go code in Qt
> and C++.

I've seen some incomprehensible "small and simple"
programs.  Some of them have been written in C++.
 
Regards,

John M. Drake

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