12.3  External identifiers

“Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all.”

                                                —Winston Churchill

When defining exported symbols, clarity trumps brevity: The client programmer can always define abbreviations as desired.

• Construct exported identifiers from complete words separated by underbars. Do not use word fragments. Do not drop vowels. Do not run words together. Use acronyms only when universal, such as ASCII.
• A verb followed by a noun makes a good function name.
• An adjective followed by a noun makes a good type or constant name.
• Eschew obfustication. Prefer short, plain words whenever practical. Do not utilize utilize. Use use.