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Capitalization

Capitalization refers to the way userdata names is capitalized.

There are four main types of capitalization:

  • Pascal case (PascalCase), which makes every word start with a capital letter
  • Camel case (camelCase), which makes every word start with a capital letter, except the first word
  • Upper case (UPPER_CASE), which makes every letter capitalized, with words separated by underscores
  • Snake case (snake_case), which makes every letter lowercase

In the Oxomo Coding Conventions, pascal case is the default for every userdata except the declared exceptions below. Snake case is never used. The reason it's best to opt for pascal case is because a majority of the Roblox API uses that casing, and so having userdata to match a similar style is easier to read.

warning

Be sure to read the exceptions below for cases that don't use pascal case.

Constants​

Constants, which are variables that are declared once at the top of the script and never change, are always upper case. In this case, only do this casing if the variable is in the root part of the script towards the top, not if it's in another function.

local MY_CONSTANT = 10 -- Constant
local MyVariable = 10 -- Not constant

MyVariable = 20

Arguments and parameters​

Arguments and parameters should be in camel case. Arguments are parameters are declared as variables that are passed by something into a more specific scope. Below are two examples of this.

Example in for loop:

for index : number, value : any in MyTable do
    local ExampleVariable = value
    --...
end

Example in function:

local function MyFunction(firstArgument : number, secondArgument : string)
    local ExampleVariable = secondArgument
end

OOP class-wide functions​

When programming in OOP format, all OOP methods (e.g. object:Destroy()) are named in pascal case. However, OOP class functions, such as constructors (e.g. object.new()), are always done in camel case.

function object.new(...) -- Class-wide function
    return --...
end

function object:Method() -- Object method
    --...
end

Configuration​

Configuration refers to tables or other userdata that act like constants shared across a project. Indexes in these config files are still in pascal case.

local SETTINGS = {
    Setting0 = "",
    Setting1 = "",
    --...
}

Keys and actions​

A key or action would refer to something like a string sent to a function that changes behavior. In a case like this, all keys are still pascal case.

For example:

local function DoAction(actionType : string)
    if actionType == "Foo" then
        -- ...
    elseif actionType == "Bar" then
        -- ...
    end
end

DoAction("Foo")