This is something that I had not considered. It seems to be a good idea.
I will be trying it in the future.

John VanSickle wrote:
>
> c = the total number of a group of objects (ie, count)
> f = a scalar representing a flag
> i = an index
> l = a scalar representing length
> p = a vector representing a specific point in space
> r = a scalar representing the radius of something
> s = a scalar
> v = a vector
>
> Hope this is found to be of use,
> John
> --
> ICQ: 46085459

-- 
Mr. Art

"Often the appearance of reality is more important 
than the reality of the appearance."
Bill DeWitt 2000

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John VanSickle <van### [at] erolscom> wrote:
: s = a scalar

  What would be the letter to put in the name of a string identifier?-)

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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Remco de Korte wrote:
> 
> John VanSickle wrote:
> >
> > Anyway, here are the letters I'm using, and what they stand for:
> >
> > c = the total number of a group of objects (ie, count)
> > f = a scalar representing a flag
> > i = an index
> > l = a scalar representing length
> > p = a vector representing a specific point in space
> > r = a scalar representing the radius of something
> > s = a scalar
> > v = a vector
>
> I'm not sure if I understand your choice of letters or categories but
> I think I'll try it out some time.

Well, they're based on English words; your mileage may vary.

> I often have conflicts of this type, especially with scenes that use a
> lot of independantly created inc-files (that use #declare where they
> should use #locals - another habit I should do something about....)
> 
> If it's just to avoid conflicts it might be enough to distinguish the
> different type of vectors. Perhaps a pv (point-vector), cv
> (colour-vector), tv (transmit-colour-vector), fv (guess...)
> It might also be useful to distinguish reals from integers (or
> variables that are supposed to be), for counters for instance.

Cardinal numbers (ie representing the total number of a kind of item) have c at the
beginning. 
Ordinal numbers (representing which item in an array, perhaps) begin with i.

Reals that represent a length begin with l (the letter).
Reals that represent a radius begin with r.
Other reals start with s (for scalar).

> How about #macros and objects?

I haven't had more than one or two collison problems with those.

Regards,
John
-- 
ICQ: 46085459

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Nieminen Juha wrote:
> 
> John VanSickle <van### [at] erolscom> wrote:
> : s = a scalar
> 
>   What would be the letter to put in the name of a string
> identifier?-)

I don't use them very often, so I've never had to use one.

Regards,
John
-- 
ICQ: 46085459

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John VanSickle wrote:
> This convention rests on adding a lower-case letter to the start of all
> variable names, except for objects, and for including at least one
> upper-case letter after this point, to avoid conflicts with the reserved
> words in the POV-Ray scripting language.

Good idea. I've been using a variation on it for a few months now.
Of course, I extended it to everything I could think of that could
be #declared. (And then lost the file I kept it in to a backup
error and had to rebuild it so it probably isn't complete anymore),
but I have found it useful indeed and have been trying lately to 
force myself to remember. The rules I use are 2-4 letter prefix, 
followed by a mnemonically helpful name. Prefix in lower case, each 
word of name capitalized. You're right, it is quite helpful in 
preventing name clashes and identifying variable types. Not 100% 
effective in the name clash thing, but usually you can get around 
the problems that still exist by suffixing the variable name with 
a letter or digit to distinquish different "components" of the same
object. 

I never thought of distinguishing between floats and, for example,
integer looping variables, or booleans, or different kinds of 
vectors (all floats are "fv-" and all vectors are "vec-" in my 
code) but considering half the point is to identify the use of the
variable, that's not a bad idea, really.

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I like your tip.  But I usually make up long key_words discribeing the
variable.

Ambis

"John VanSickle"  wrote in message:
> As you may have learned by now, if you re-use a variable name in your
> POV-Ray scripts, and then use that variable later, you have to make it
> the same type of thing both times, or POV-Ray will bomb out with an
> error.
>
> For instance,
>
>   #declare J=0;
>
> // other stuff
>
>   #declare J=<2,3,1>;
>
> will result in the error message "Attempted to redefine float
> identifier as vector identifier."
>
> I have found that adding a single character to the front of the
> variable name is of great help in avoiding this problem.  It prevents
> the example problem by forcing the two different values to be placed
> into different variables altogether.  Assuming that the first J is
> supposed to be a scalar, and the second a vector, the two declares
> would be written this way:
>
> #declare sJ = 0;
>
> #declare vJ=<2,3,1>;
>
> Not only does this prevent the aforementioned error from bringing your
> parsing to a grinding halt, it also helps you remember what a particular
> variable is supposed to be doing.
>
> This is especially helpful if you are working on a group project and
> need to understand the other people's scripts, and avoid clobbering
> the variables they're using.
>
> This convention rests on adding a lower-case letter to the start of all
> variable names, except for objects, and for including at least one
> upper-case letter after this point, to avoid conflicts with the reserved
> words in the POV-Ray scripting language.
>
> Anyway, here are the letters I'm using, and what they stand for:
>
> c = the total number of a group of objects (ie, count)
> f = a scalar representing a flag
> i = an index
> l = a scalar representing length
> p = a vector representing a specific point in space
> r = a scalar representing the radius of something
> s = a scalar
> v = a vector
>
> I don't use this method for naming pigments, textures, or materials,
> but I haven't had the name-collision problems with those.
>
> Hope this is found to be of use,
> John
> --
> ICQ: 46085459

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I try to use the following rules, although my syntax isn't always
consistent:
* always begin with an uppercase to prevent collision with future / patch
names (I do not like this one, but it is useful)
* for inc files, begin with a 2-4 acronym for the file name (I usually do
not do this while developing the file, but add this with some "replace all"
operation when I start including it in other files)
* use descriptive names, like "JoiningSphereRadius"
* use a type description suffix like "_pi" for pigment

On the whole this gives quite long names. One (boggus) example:
"TormInnerTorus_tx" (Torus Madness, Inner Torus, texture)


 This make reading formulas difficult. So, I use two solutions:
* use work names during development, and replace them when finished
* use #local cryptic names with only the file acronym, often doing things
like
      #ifndef( TormTotalTorusCount_int) #declare TormTotalTorusCount_int=15;
#end
      #local TormIt1= TormTotalTorusCount_int;
      or
      // Total number of torii parts
      #local TormIt2=
TormTotalTorusCount_int*TormTorusDecompositionSteps_int


Philippe

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On Tue, 1 Feb 2000 12:25:27 +0100, Philippe Debar wrote:
>* always begin with an uppercase to prevent collision with future / patch
>names (I do not like this one, but it is useful)

You don't have to begin with an uppercase letter, as long as you use one
somewhere in the name.

-- 
These are my opinions.  I do NOT speak for the POV-Team.
The superpatch: http://www2.fwi.com/~parkerr/superpatch/
My other stuff: http://www2.fwi.com/~parkerr/traces.html

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"Ron Parker" <ron### [at] povrayorg> wrote in message
news:slr### [at] rongwmicrocom...
> You don't have to begin with an uppercase letter, as long as you use one
> somewhere in the name.


*doh*

Thank you thank you thank you thank you - I'll try to remember that for the
rest of my poving life!


Philippe

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Nieminen Juha wrote:
> 
> John VanSickle <van### [at] erolscom> wrote:
> : s = a scalar
> 
>   What would be the letter to put in the name of a string identifier?-)

Normally "psz", meaning pointer to zero terminated string.

Markus

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