What are the naming rules for typedef in C language?

Typedef naming rules in C language include: clear and clear, following naming specifications, avoiding conflicts with keywords, and avoiding ambiguity. Naming should accurately reflect the purpose of the type, follow project or team specifications, and avoid confusion with other types to improve the readability and maintainability of the code.

What are the naming rules for typedef in C language? This problem seems simple, but it actually has a hidden mystery. Many veterans may fall into some details. This article will discuss in-depth the naming of typedef and some easily overlooked pitfalls.

You may think that typedef is named, just give it a name. wrong! Although the compiler will not report errors due to irregular naming, poor naming will seriously affect the readability and maintainability of the code, and even create difficult-to-observe bugs. After reading this article, you can not only write a standard typedef statement, but also understand the design concept behind it, thereby improving your C language programming skills.

Let’s first briefly review the role of typedef : it essentially gives an alias to existing data types. This is not a simple text replacement. typedef creates a new type name, which is different from the original type name in the eyes of the compiler. It is very important to understand this point, and it will be discussed later.

So, how to name it? In fact, there are no mandatory grammatical rules, but there are conventional best practices:

• Clear and clear: the name should accurately reflect the purpose of the type. For example, uint32_t is much better than my_int , and the former can be seen at a glance as a 32-bit unsigned integer. Don't be lazy, giving a good name can save you countless debugging time. I once saw a project, typedef unsigned int flag; what is this flag? Is it a status flag? Or switch? It's totally unclear and has very poor readability.
• Follow the naming specification: It depends on the specifications of your project or team. Common specifications include camel nomenclature (e.g. myDataType ), underscore nomenclature (e.g. my_data_type ), and case mixing. It is very important to maintain consistency. Don’t use hump and underline it in a project, it’s simply a disaster. I personally prefer underscore nomenclature because it is clearer and not easily confused with variable names.
• Avoid conflicts with keywords: Don't use C keywords (such as int , char , struct ) as the name of typedef . This looks stupid, but believe it or not, I've seen someone do this.
• Avoid ambiguity: The name should be specific enough to avoid confusion with other types. For example, if you already have a point structure, don't use point to define other types. This can lead to hard to detect errors. I used to take a day to find the bug because of this reason.

Let's look at a few examples and experience the difference between good and bad:

Bad examples:

 <code class="c">typedef unsigned int u; // 太简略，看不出是啥typedef struct {int x; int y;} p; // 完全不知道p是什么</code>

Good examples:

 <code class="c">typedef unsigned int uint32_t; // 清晰明了，一看就知道是32位无符号整数typedef struct { double latitude; double longitude; } GeoCoordinate; // 一看就知道是地理坐标</code>

Finally, I would like to emphasize one thing: although typedef is convenient, it should be used with caution. Excessive use of typedef will increase the complexity of the code and reduce readability. Use it only when you really need it, such as defining some complex structure or pointer type. Remember, the readability of the code is much more important than the simplicity of the code. A clear and easy-to-understand code is more valuable than a tricky but difficult to understand.

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