[llvm-dev] RFC: changing variable naming rules in LLVM codebase

Rui Ueyama via llvm-dev llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org
Fri Feb 22 13:48:02 PST 2019


On Fri, Feb 22, 2019 at 12:39 PM Chandler Carruth via llvm-dev <
llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:

> On Fri, Feb 22, 2019 at 5:59 AM via llvm-dev <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org>
> wrote:
>
>> - Local variables and formal parameters should be lower_case, with
>>   one exception: Variables/parameters that have lambda/function
>>   type should follow the function-name spelling rules.
>>
>
> I really dislike this exception. Callable objects are *objects* and
> locally scoped, I would much prefer they look like variables.
>
> Also, what about callable objects that aren't lambdas? Or that use
> operator() for something other than emulating a function call?
>
> I think the simple rule is superior.
>
> - Initialisms and other abbreviations would be considered words for
>>   this purpose, so we have names such as:
>>     tli   // Local variable for TargetLoweringInfo
>>     m_cgm // Data member for CodeGenModule
>>
>
> Agreed.
>
>
>> - I don't have a good suggestion for file-static/global variables.
>>   Some people have suggested a "g_" prefix for globals, or possibly
>>   an "s_" prefix for class-static data.
>>
>
> These are rare enough that I'm not sure we need special rules for naming
> them. They should also should typically be wrapped up in an actual API
> limiting how widely they are referenced.
>
>
>> Regarding the transition:
>>
>> Some people have worried that the churn will cause blame issues.
>> I respectfully point out that in my own archaeology I have to deal
>> with lots of clang-format/indentation/other random semantically
>> meaningless refactoring, this is just one more.  Also the point is
>> not to optimize for git-blame but to optimize for reading what is
>> there at the moment.
>>
>> A more focused and shorter transition period will create a lot of
>> short-term churn but get us to the good endpoint sooner.  Doing
>> conversions per-file or per-class (rather than per-function [too
>> small] or per-library [too big]) are probably the way to go.
>> Given we are changing the names used for _data_, and we try to
>> practice good data-hiding, the impact of the conversion of any
>> given class *ought* to be reasonably confined.
>>
>
> I generally agree with this strategy. That said, I would still do it
> somewhat lazily rather than eagerly, but batched much as you're suggesting.
>

If we are going to update variable names in a batch, I'd like to nominate
lld as a starter project. It is a middle-sized LLVM subproject which
currently follows the today's LLVM naming convention, and because of its
size it shouldn't be too hard to convert the entire code base in a single
patch or a few patches.


>> If someone can make clang-tidy help with this, that's awesome.
>>
>> I'm almost afraid to make the next suggestion, but here goes:
>> In more complicated/wide-impact cases, it would be possible to
>> stage a data-member name conversion into "small-bang" iterations
>> using a C++ tactic like this:
>>     class Foo {
>>       int m_bar; // The renamed member.
>>       int &Bar = m_bar; // TEMPORARY alias using the old name.
>>     };
>> This would have to be done sparingly and for good reason, such as
>> when the names are known across many components/subprojects and
>> doing them all at once would be really too much. Someone would
>> have to commit to getting it all done and removing the aliases in
>> a reasonably short period of time.  Needing to do this trick would
>> be (IMO) strong evidence of poor software design and a place to
>> focus some refactoring effort.
>>
>
> Honestly, I don't think we need to do this. We routinely make wide-ranging
> API updates. If we need to do that, we do that.
>
> What we *should* do is encourage anyone that before they decide to do this
> to discuss it and see if there is a good way to hide this usage of a
> variable name behind a better API and make *that* widespread change
> instead. Then the name change is more local again.
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