G.1. Why Implement Naming Conventions?

No one has to use naming conventions. Developers can and do write applications without applying (or enforcing) naming conventions. However, they can save a lot of time, money, and prevent needless frustrations by making it easier and faster to read and interpret code, whether it is something you wrote last week or last year, or code from another developer.

Naming conventions convey many benefits. As mentioned earlier, they are like sharing a common language. Typically, that is important if the application will be shared, but it may also be applied to the individual developer who has to work with a program that was shelved for a couple of years. Some of the obvious benefits of using a naming convention include the following.