I propose that we stop recommending the universal use of an 'a' prefix for arguments to functions in C and C++. If the prefix helps with disambiguation, that's fine. However, use of this prefix should not be prescribed in general.
`aFoo` does not provide any additional safety that I know of.[1] As a superfluous prefix, it adds visual noise, reducing immediate readability of all function declarations and subsequent usage of the variables within the function definition. Notable works or style guides [2] which do not recommend `aFoo`: [3] * Google * Linux Kernel * Bjarne Stroustrup * GCC * LLVM * Java Style (Java, non-C) * PEP 0008 (Python, non-C) * FreeBSD * Unreal Engine * Unity3D (largely C#) * Spidermonkey * Daala * RR * Rust * Folly (from Facebook) * C++ STL entrypoints * IDL for web specs on W3C and WhatWG * etc. Notable works or style guides which *do* recommend `aFoo`: * Mozilla (except for IDL, Java, and Python) * ? 3rd-party projects in our tree which do not use `aFoo`: * Cairo * Skia * ANGLE * HarfBuzz * ICU * Chromium IPC * everything under modules/ that isn't an nsFoo.c/cpp/h * etc.? 3rd-party projects in our tree which *do* recommend `aFoo`: * ? As far as I can tell, the entire industry disagrees with us (as well as a number of our own projects), which means we should have a good reason or two for making our choice. No such reason is detailed in the style guide. I propose we strike the `aFoo` recommendation from the Mozilla style guide. - [1]: Maybe it prevents accidental shadowing? No: Either this isn't allowed by spec, or at least MSVC 2013 errors when compiling this. [2]: I do not mean this as an endorsement of the listed works and guides, but rather as illustration on how unusual our choice is. [3]: I created an Etherpad into which people are welcome to gather other works, projects, or style guides that I missed: https://etherpad.mozilla.org/6FcHs9mJYQ _______________________________________________ dev-platform mailing list dev-platform@lists.mozilla.org https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-platform
