When should I prefix names with the project name?

Question

If you work with SharePoint, you'll see classes like SPList, SPSite etc.

I've seen variations of this on other projects, in other technologies, e.g. for a CRM project, classes named CRMLoggingFactory, CRMEntity etc.

This stands out when you look at the code and you know what the prefix corresponds to, but when do you draw the line? What are the conditions for a class to be prefixed by the project name, company name, etc. (i.e. the "domain name" of the project)?

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 12 '11 at 13:59

7

This will at least partly depend on the language. Id say it is, in general, bad practice in languages that provide proper namespace facilities but good practice in languages that don't.

answered Oct 12 '11 at 13:59

jk.

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score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 12 '11 at 14:10

3

This is an indication that the environment has weak namespacing facilities, in Java, C++ or C# this is a tautology and a serious code smell. In C with a flat namespace this would be acceptable for public facing API functions.

answered Oct 12 '11 at 14:10

Java Swing prefixes its classes with "J" (JPanel, JComponent, JButton, etc.). Would you say this is a serious code smell? Or is it acceptable for some reason in this case? What would that reason be? – Jason Nov 09 '15 at 22:58
need >=15 characters to say **never** – Nov 10 '15 at 17:43
Jarrod, I'm not sure I understand your response. I didn't ask a question of "when", which would take an answer like "never". Are you saying that the prefixes in Swing are a serious code smell and the Java team made a mistake because they should never use a project prefix? Or am I missing something? I know I may sound ignorant in this, but I do appreciate the answers! – Jason Nov 12 '15 at 14:47
[tautology: needless repetition of an idea, especially in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness, as in “widow woman.”.](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tautology) – Nov 12 '15 at 21:48

FrustratedWithFormsDesigner · Answer 3 · 2011-10-12T13:58:44.440

I would say that the line should be drawn when the class name seems somewhat generic but has a very particular implementation and meaning that is specific to the containing library/framework/api. Also if the library/api/whatever is expected to be used in the context with other compenents that may have classes with similar or identical names. You could also use namespaces to help with such problems, but that may not be available in all languages/environments.

When should I prefix names with the project name?

3 Answers3