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Hungarian Notation

Hungarian Notation

A naming convention invented by Charles Simonyia from Microsoft, in which one or more letters are added to the start of variable names to indicate the type of the identifier. Known as Hungarian Notation because the prefixes make variable names less easily readable (unless you are used to Hungarian Notation) and because Simonyi is originally from Hungary. Its use is mainly confined to Windows programming environments there are many passionate arguments for and against its use. Generally Hungarian Notation can be useful in weak-type languages but unnecessary in strong-typed languages where the compiler will warn if a variable of one type is used where a different type is expected.

Relevant links:

www4.ncsu.edu:8030/~moriedl/projects/hungarian - Hungarian Notation Quick Reference
www.gregleg.com/oldHome/hungarian.html - Greg's guide to Hungarian Notation
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnvsgen/html/hunganotat.asp - Republication of Simonyi's original work.
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?HungarianNotation

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