Naming Convention Explained – Camel vs Pascal vs Kebab vs Snake Case
A naming convention is a pattern generally accepted as a suitable format for naming coding entities like variables, functions, and properties.
Why the Need for a Naming Convention?
Most computing languages do not allow using spaces to separate words when naming your code.
For instance, the snippet below will throw an error because it uses space to separate the variable’s name.
The four popular naming conventions developers use instead of the space-separated entity naming style are:
- camelCase
- PascalCase
- kebab-case
- snake_case
Let’s discuss the four.
What Is camelCase?
Camel case (also called medial capitals) has the following naming convention:
- Use lowercase for the first letter.
- Capitalize the initial letter of each word.
Some examples are:
- iPhone
- eBay
- freeCodeCamp
What Is PascalCase?
Pascal case (also called upper camel case) has the following naming style:
- Use uppercase for the first letter.
- Capitalize the initial letter of each word.
Some examples are:
- CodeSweetly
- JavaScript
- GitHub
What Is kebab-case?
Kebab case uses a dash (hyphen) character between words.
Some examples are:
- margin-top
- border-radius
- grid-template-columns
What Is snake_case?
Snake case uses underscores (_
) between words.
Some examples are:
- favorite_countries
- color_of_the_snow