danielwertheim

danielwertheim


notes from a passionate developer

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This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, nor current or previous. All content is published "as is", without warranty of any kind and I don't take any responsibility and can't be liable for any claims, damages or other liabilities that might be caused by the content.

Members named ID or post fixed with ID makes my eyes twitch

I have no idea why but whenever I read code and I stumble upon a member named, either in full or post fixed with, "ID" I get eye twitches and my face looks as twisted as Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky character. I start to drew, like an old bulldog getting a juicy bone. Or like an old fart taking a tour to a "nice" beach. My drew how-ever, is not from "joy". It’s all caused by a short circuited brain. You should be able to tell, I mean. I did write this post about it. So, why is it written "ID" and not "Id"? Really, WHY?!?! It’s short for "identifier", right? That is ONE word. ONE. Not one starting on "I" and one starting on "D".

Why?

I confess. Languages and grammar is not my profession at all. My main language is not English so feel free to provide me with an answer to help me get over my twitches. But could it be as simple as clearly distinguishing it from the Freudian psychoanalytic theory meaning of "id"?

According to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, the id is the personality component made up of unconscious psychic energy that works to satisfy basic urges, needs, and desires. The id operates based on the pleasure principle, which demands immediate gratification of needs. – http://psychology.about.com/od/iindex/g/def_id.htm

Sigmund Freud was Austrian, not English and thus the original term seems to have been "Es" or more actually part of a sentence.

The terms "id", "ego", and "super-ego" are not Freud’s own. They are latinisations by his translator James Strachey. Freud himself wrote of "das Es," "das Ich," and "das Über-Ich"—respectively, "the It", "the I", and the "Over-I" (or "I above") – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,egoand_super-ego

Context is king

So if this psychological theory of Freud is keeping us from using "Id" as suffixes in our members like properties of classes, let me just say one thing: "CONTEXT". OK, maybe you actually are building a system in the domains of psychology, but most likely not, hence, Freud’s "das es" should not be a hinder for us to use "Id" vs "ID". Even guidelines from Microsoft seems to approve this – "Capitalization Conventions".

Again, please feel free to guide me. Remember, I’m not into linguistics. I just want the code to "look nice".

Thanks,

//Daniel

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