Why we use snake_case for variables and camelCase for functions

To be less stressed, and therefor better programmers, we have to do our best to free our code from bullshit that makes it a hard to maintain, and onboard new devs-to.

We use the same name for database fields, JSON property names returned from an API, the HTML form field name attributes, and finally, the Javascript variable names that contain those database-originating values. Naming your data exactly the same in all layers of the stack frees you from having to keep a mental mapping of what is what. Discipline yourself to enforce this rule, and you will be a less stressed programmer.

We use camel case for function names simply because it allows us to quickly identify that an identifier is a function, and not a variable. Yes, I know functions can be saved as values, but the difference is that you can’t call a primitive/object/array value by adding parentheses to it. That’s where the line between function and value is, and having a visual cue to tell one from the other will also make you a less stressed programmer.


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