Naming Conventions

Functions and Methods

Functions and methods should be named using the "studly caps" style (also referred to as "bumpy case" or "camel caps"). Functions should in addition have the package name as a prefix, to avoid name collisions between packages. The initial letter of the name (after the prefix) is lowercase, and each letter that starts a new "word" is capitalized. Some examples:

connect()

getData()

buildSomeWidget()

XML_RPC_serializeData()

Private class members (meaning class members that are intented to be used only from within the same class in which they are declared; PHP does not yet support truly-enforceable private namespaces) are preceeded by a single underscore. For example:

_sort()

_initTree()

$this->_status

Constants

Constants should always be all-uppercase, with underscores to seperate words. Prefix constant names with the uppercased name of the class/package they are used in. For example, the constants used by the DB:: package all begin with "DB_".

Global Variables

If your package needs to define global variables, their name should start with a single underscore followed by the package name and another underscore. For example, the PEAR package uses a global variable called $_PEAR_destructor_object_list.