As the originator of the variable, I have to say I'm not terribly bothered by all caps used sparingly.
I use caps (only this once as far as I know) to signify: wacky constant coming up. My use doesn't have anything to do with Java. (I've never written a Java program longer than 10 lines.) It is more likely to have something to do with C. If I wanted to be a pain, I could say I'm going back to our roots when everything was in caps. (Whenever I look at books that present Scheme in all caps it is soooo disturbing. Blech.) Jay On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 7:26 AM, Neil Van Dyke <[email protected]> wrote: > I just noticed this variable named "TEXT/HTML-MIME-TYPE" in the excellent > Web server API, and wanted to request that PLT not get in the habit of using > all-caps. > > As far as I know, the reason Java kids use all-caps for constants is an > artifact of 1970s C, and no longer makes sense. C had no "const" at the > time, and compilers and computers were very limited, but they did have the C > preprocessor. So people used preprocessor macros for constants. The C > preprocessor was very crude and ill-conceived by Scheme syntax extension > standards. It was easy to break your code because you unknowingly used a > preprocessor macro that, say, expanded to function call with side effects > despite looking like a variable reference, or reassigned your variables, or > expanded to more than one expression, or even expanded to an incomplete > expression or statement. Because preprocessor macro names were identifiers > just like variable and function names, a naming convention of putting macro > names in all-caps helped to flag this bit of code that did not behave as a > variable or function. Then, when Java was being developed, the professional > programmers for whom it was originally targeted were at the time C and C++ > programmers, so Java was made to look a lot like C++. (Ironically, it was > the analogue of COBOL and 4GL programmers who became most of the Java > programmers, not the embedded systems, technical, and shrinkwrap developers > who wanted the language to look like C/C++.) Some Java person must've > thought that using all-caps for constants was a good idea, because, hey, > that's how it's done in C++, so they started doing that in Java, even though > Java did not have the dangerous preprocessor and it did get "const". So now > you see Java programmers writing "someFooBar = > OMG_LOOK_OUT_HERE_COMES_A_CONSTANT_IT_COULD_BE_ANYTHING_BUT_OH_WAIT_ITS_JUST_A_CONSTANT_WHICH_IS_ONE_OF_THE_MOST_BENIGN_THINGS_POSSIBLE_NOT_A_CPP_MACRO_SO_I_GUESS_WE_SHOULD_CALM_DOWN_AND_STOP_SHOUTING;" > > -- > http://www.neilvandyke.org/ > > _________________________________________________ > For list-related administrative tasks: > http://list.cs.brown.edu/mailman/listinfo/plt-dev > -- Jay McCarthy <[email protected]> Assistant Professor / Brigham Young University http://teammccarthy.org/jay "The glory of God is Intelligence" - D&C 93 _________________________________________________ For list-related administrative tasks: http://list.cs.brown.edu/mailman/listinfo/plt-dev
