Overview

A Naming Convention is a rule to follow when deciding to name objects like a Job, file, context, variable, code routine, metadata, etc. There are many great reasons for the establishment and adoption of well defined naming conventions, yet all too often the lack of discipline to do so wins out. Bottom line is, conformity breads reliability and thus even a minimalist approach to naming of objects is better than none at all.

"The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names." Chinese Proverb

Here are some credible reasons to consider in support of having naming conventions:

• Increases the readability & understanding of source code
• Relationships can be deduced improving understanding of object interactions
• Conforming objects can be easily identified & help determine their purpose
• Reduces duplication of objects & helps avoid collisions on different ones
• Consistency across projects fosters predictability & enables automation
• Enhances source code appearance

Regardless of any debate on what can become a controversial issue over which conventions to use, there is no real industry standard to address all the potential elements involved. It is however, highly recommended that Talend projects in a 'Data Driven Enterprise' define and widely utilize object naming conventions.

Since the Talend product suite contains many areas where naming conventions should be defined the following best practices offer an organized methodology in naming specific objects.