Something I haven't mentioned yet on the blog is that I'm writing a book. I don't know how much I'm allowed to say, so I won't discuss the topic or the publisher, but what I will say is that I've been doing a lot of research for it. I've been reading bits of books, tons of articles, and whatever I can find in the blogs.

What I've decided is this: Magazines should no longer take submissions from authors who don't write their code according to the Microsoft style guidelines.

I've especially grown tired of Hungarian notation. If I see one more cryptic made-up-on-the-spot prefix like "dgrd," I'm going to go nuts(er). I don't understand why, in this day and age of the superpowered IDE, people still think that they need to express their object's type in the variable name. It's just dumb.

People have argued with me about this by saying something along the lines of, "Yeah, but there's so much code in my method that I need to keep track of my object types like that."

Well, well, well. I feel sorry for the poor bastard who's going to have to maintain that code. If your method bodies are so bloody large and complex that you've lost track of what your objects are, then you deserve to feel confused.

My favorite, though, is "o." Nothing is better than an "o."

"oMyObject"

"oWordObject"

"oMyGodI'mGoingToLoseIt"

I mean, it wasn't already obvious to me that it was an object. It only derives from SYSTEM.I.AM.A.BLOODY.OBJECT.LIKE.EVERY.OTHER.DAMN.THING.IN.TOWN.

Hungarian is perfectly all right if that's what your company requires, or if that's the sort of sick thing you like to do with the blinds drawn late at night. But, and I'm saying this in the nicest way possible, take that Hungarian notation and shove it.

The world would be a much better place if we all conformed to one set of style guidelines. When we inherit each other's code, as inevitably happens, we wouldn't have to squint and turn the monitor sideways to understand what someone was trying to do.

The best code isn't just about function - style is much more important than most developers realize.

[Update: If you're looking to change your ways and bring your code into the 21st century without a time machine, then this is a good place to start.]

After Blog Mint [?] :

Sometimes I think I should have have just been a corrupt shrink.