At a previous job, I was introduced to the concept of “clean code.” As an embedded programmer, where we are often trying to squeeze extra bytes out of already optimized code, many of the principals of clean code do not apply.

But, in general, I like what I have read so far in this recommended book on the subject:

https://amzn.to/2KCtFy1 (affiliate link)

With this in mind, I wanted to ask a question about function names (whether they be in C, Perl, Java, or whatever).

In the past, I would write my functions using verb/noun, like this:

InitUserlog();
InitDisplay();
InitNetworking();

But after my exposure to object oriented programming, I learned about how classes and methods are used:

Userlog.init();
Display.init();
Networking.init();

This approach makes it very clean which class a function (method?) belongs to.

I started doing my C code similarly, letting the noun of the code lead:

UserlogInit();
DisplayInit();
NetworkingInit();

With all the Userlog functions starting with Userlog, I think it makes it clearer where things come from, and helps avoid collisions with outside code (or just code from another engineer on the same team).

With clean code, code should read more like English. Thus, using “InitializeUserlog()” is probably cleaner than “UserlogInit()”. But since you can’t do that with object oriented languages, perhaps writing backwards (Userlog.init(), UserlogInit(), etc.) is accepted due to the limitation of the language.

Indeed, “Userlog.lookupName()” seems less clean than “LookupNameInUserlog()”.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be doing this in C, since I *can* write the functions out more like proper English.

What do you think? Comments appreciated.