Allow mixedCase in the constants naming style
- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
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- Avg merge
- 2d 19h
- Merged PRs (30d)
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Description
## Page
https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/latest/style-guide.html#constants
## Abstract
### The situation
Currently the only accepted naming convention for constants is SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE. This leads to weird APIs, for example:
```solidity
contract Four {
uint8 public constant FOUR_CONSTANT = 2 + 2;
uint8 public immutable fourImmutable = 2 + 2;
function fourFunction() public pure returns (uint8) {
return 2 + 2;
}
}
```
For the consumers of the API, it's all the same, they see 3 pure functions returning `uint8`s, but while `fourImmutable()` and `fourFunction()` are consistent, `FOUR_CONSTANT()` is completely different, even though it behaves exactly as the rest.
For the devs writing contracts deriving from `Four`, `fourImmutable` and `FOUR_CONSTANT` are in most contexts equivalent, the only exception are assigning to other constants and static array sizes.
For the devs of `Four`, a cosmetic change of `fourImmutable` or `fourFunction` into a constant is an API-breaking change even though it can't affect any consumers. A change of `FOUR_CONSTANT` into an immutable or a function won't affect the API consumers either, it will only affect the constant evaluation in the deriving contracts.
Because the naming convention is defined in the Solidity language's own documentation, it's considered the (soft) law. All the code linters and analyzers, and also all the devs require using the SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE for constants, to do otherwise one needs to overcome both the tools and the people.
### The solution
The solution is to allow both SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE and mixedCase names in constants, but recommend mixedCase. It won't make the existing code and interfaces break the style, after all they can't be changed anymore. Over time the tools will start accepting mixedCase, and the devs will learn to use them. The future APIs will stick to mixedCase everywhere and won't expose their inner implementation details via the naming convention anymore.
## Pull request
None yet, let's discuss it first.
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start with the constants section of the Solidity style guide linked in the issue, then trace how constant naming is enforced by the compiler and related linters or analyzers. Done means agreeing on support for both forms, recommending mixedCase, and documenting the compatibility implications; the issue names no implementation files or tests.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- solidity
- Domain
- compilers, documentation, tooling
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 30/100