this./m

Question

In:
```java
class PezDispenser{
  private String mcharacterName;
  public PezDispenser(String characterName) {
    mcharacterName = characterName;
  }
  public String getCharacterName() {
    return mcharacterName;
  }
}
```
Wouldn't it be easier if Craig just did like this(following code)? Is there a particular reason why he did this way? I mean he would use less m's and would use less time, right?
```java
class PezDispenser{
  private String characterName;
  public PezDispenser(String mcharacterName) {
    characterName = mcharacterName;
  }
  public String getCharacterName() {
    return characterName;
  }
}
```

William Li · Accepted Answer

There's no particular reason. Craig said so on the video timestamp 5:40. 
there have been many attempts at trying to be more explicit because of it. There was at one time a very popular style of  prefixing your private member variables with a lower case m.
And in the code. private String mcharacterName; this line defines the private member variable, hence prefix it w/ m in its variable name, I guess m stands for "member variable".
This is just a popular variable naming convention, whether you choose to follow it is up to you, but there's no denying that picking a good variable name does help reader make senses of your code.
Personally, I don't like prefixing with m. I learned Java in my college years, back then the style was.
java
  public PezDispenser(String characterName) {
    this.characterName = characterName;
  }

I still think this is the best way, even though some people may find the this keyword confusing.

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João Ignácio Brito

João Ignácio Brito

this./m

1 Answer

William Li

William Li