Whats your go-to naming convention?

It depends a bit on the use case. I try to follow naming conventions within specific environments like Python. When just sorting some documents together, I usually do a mix of Kebab and snake case, where I split semantic parts with underscores and connect words with dashes like
2024-08-30_author_document-name_other-important-info.ext
- This is exactly what I do. It lends itself to something like 'prefix_specific-info_version' which is both sortable and easy to read.
- Yeahh that's the best IMO ! But I get most of the time stuck with some testOFtest001 files/directory... cause I'm lazy...
  But I always ALWAYS regret it afterward... :/
- I can tell that this guy fucks
- Is something like this defined in a standard somewhere?

Snake case.
Starts with a lowercase, good for shell autocompletion
No spaces, so no worrying about spaces in shell commands
'_' is better than '-' because it shows the spaces between words more clearly
- Counterpoint: you have to use Shift a lot
  
  He probably uses vi. A few hundred more shift-key presses won't stand out.
  
  For this reason, I use kebab case for directories. But because I agree underscores show spaces better, I use snake case for files.
  
  Depends on your keyboard layout

I put an unnecessary amount of spaces in all my file names to break anyone who wants to use CLI tools on them
i use windows btw
- Using Windows is a true flex on Lemmy
- I put newlines in my filenames to break both CLI tools and Windows filesystems
- sh
  
  touch "\" \""
  
  What does this do?

COOLFI~1.AME
- 10 PRINT "FARTS" 20 GOTO 10
  
  Man I miss basic.
- Im dead! MS-DOS vibes

Underscore to delineate different parts, hypen to delineate words.
Like: my-resume_draft.pdf
And to make it consistent and easier to reuse parts for project names and such, I have a command line utility written for it. It caches the parts and uses a template system (support for generating current datetime in parts)
Available here (is in AUR too):
https://github.com/Atreyagaurav/nameit
- You can go-to_hell.
- Thats what I do as well. It makes it easy to seperate between logical units.

SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE just has the best name
- YES, I USE THIS TOO TO STAY CONSISTENT WITH SQL QUERIES

I like Camel Case for code, but mostly because it's ingrained in my brain, coming from Java as my first language.
For folders and files, I like Kebab Case.
- Luckily, I was not ingrained by my first programming language like that, or my coworkers would strangle me.
  I started with BASIC, which allowed only two letters for variable names...

I am a fan of Python's or Rust's official conventions.
For package names, tho, I don't get why this-is-used over this_clearly_better_system, as I would expect a double click to select_the_whole_thing, whereas it does-not-happen-here.
- While i do agree, snake looks a lot better too. I just wish it was possible to navigate through each parts of the word more easily with ctrl+arrow. That would make it the superiour choice imo.
  
  Does alt+arrow work in your terminal?

Camel case, but with a twist -- if the next word is about to start after a capital letter, I'll have it lower case.
topSecretFBIfile.txt for example
- Interesting, I'd tend to demote the initialism, ie topSecretFbiFiles.tar.gz
  
  That's probably more commonly accepted. I defer to whatever my team is doing, but for my own files, I wouldn't want things like UsStudentList or USStudentList which both look wrong to me.
  USstudentList looks right to me, and if that's wrong, I'm okay with being wrong! Haha

For files, kebab case. For variables, snake case. For servers, megaman villains.

IT'S
COOLFILE.NAM
THERE IS ONLY 8.3 AND THERE IS ONLY UPPERCASE
- FILEID.DIZ

I like to use my enterprise number and a UUID (all in lower case, for legibility). Here's an example:

.1.3.6.1.4.1.33230.0d456e46-67e6-11ef-9c92-7b175b3ab1f1
Now you might say that the UUID is already globally unique or at least pretty unlikely to turn up anywhere else, so why bother prefixing it with more stuff? To that I say: "I need to be absolutely or at least reasonably sure ... OK nearly sure".
Anyway, you maintain a database of these things and then attach documentation and meaning to them. An editor could abstract and hide that away.
I started this post as a joke. Not sure anymore. Why get your knickers in a twist with naming conventions for variables and constants. Programming is already a whopping layer of abstraction from what the logic gates are up to, another one wont hurt!

How about "cool file name"?
All my systems use modern file systems that are case sensitive and can contain any character except / and \0.
- not really
  You can easily escape spaces with \ and my modern shell (fish) suggests and completes filenames for me anyway, so i don't have to type more than the first word in more than 90% of cases.
- True. Linux, Android, Windows all have no problems
  Using dots in a file though...

WIAT, Y R U CALLIN IT SCREAMING CASE THAT SOUNDS FKN DUM TBH
L8R DOODZ
-SP4SEM4N B1FF
- ive seen it be called both screaming and train case, not sure what the most used term is though.
  
  It’s a reference to Tha Grate Biffinski:
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIFF_(Usenet)#

I’ve never been to a naming convention but I have been to some comic conventions!
- You should, that's how you can make a name for yourself!

Snake case. I find it the easiest to read.
- I'm starting to warm up to Pokemon case, which would simplify functions like
  GottaCatchThemAll() to 🍚()
  or
  this to ⚡🐹IchooseU
  which I think we can all agree is much easier to read

The only correct answer is to be consistent with the code base you're working in or the language's conventions. If neither of these conventions exist, then someone has already failed you.
- Given OP mentions kebab-case, this is probably about file-systems. But you are absolutely correct about code.

25% Camel case, 25% Pascal and 50% of the time flatcase. It drives me insane when I try and autocomplete a folder only to realise it was Downloads instead of downloads. I keep telling myself i will go through and make it all flatcase but I put it off because i tell myself i will rebuild my computer next week every week.
- Never thought about making the home folders flatcase, thanks, takes all of 2 minutes btw.
  If anybody else wants to do it, remember to edit ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs with your new flatcase folders.
- I do the flatcase in my machines too, but it stopped being such big a nuisance to me when I moved to ZSH - it can autocomplete case-insensitively.
  
  Is zsh a terminal or a language like bash? I don't get what it is from reading descriptions

For files? An unholy amalgam of snake, kebab and dot, depending on what exactly I'm trying to convey. (I still have much-ported files around with DOS 8.3 filenames, so they're truncated scream case (SCREAMIN.NAM), but I don't actively name files like that anymore.) The important thing is to separate the words/sections while using characters that are valid without escapes in both ext4 and vfat if at all possible.
For variable names, camel or Pascal case (depending on language convention) if I think anyone else is going to read it. Flat case for code I don't think anyone else is ever going to see (don't do this—it has left teethmarks in my ass from time to time and will do the same to you).

Random mix and match. I’m all for diversity!

Kebab or snake for ease of parsing through them.

Unless I can't, Kebab.
No need to hold Shift.

It really depends.
If I know I will never open the file in the terminal or batch process it in someways, I will name it using Common Case: "Cool Filename.odt".
Anything besides that, snake case. Preferably prefixed with current date: "20240901_cool_filename"

Depending on environment/language and policies. As long as its consistent throughout the project.
- My old projects still have camelCase sprinkled around, you can tell which bits are new and old depending on whether it's camel or kebab

Kebab. Not my favorite visually speaking but I had RSI issues for a while and I'm still very focused on limiting keystrokes (no shift key needed with kebab).

Rfc3339 plus kebab case for many things
2024-09-01_lname-fname-resume.pdf
- RFC3389 ?
  
  Systemwide RFC-3339 Dateformat
  I meant RFC3339

Snake case, but I'm the World's second worst programmer and just name files like this because I was alive when spaces were not allowed.

I've got a personal convention that file names get snake case, directory names get Pascal case.

I like snake, but in some interfaces the underscores blend into the text line or are not rendered properly, so it becomes eaaier to discern if the filename has spaces or separators by using kebab.

It heavily depends on the context: Filenames? Variables? Functions? Interfaces/Classes? Java? C? Shell?
- I usually like to call my functions cool-Filename and my variables moronic_typeClass. Shell executable aliases look like 'if\ then\ else' and C constants are 'IFTHANELSE'

Depends. Java-like languages ofc camel/pascal case.
Bash, Python, etc., snake case, with constants as uppercase.
Filenames: I prefer snake case.

IWRITELOTSOFBASH

This question just shows how messed up, and broken much of IT is.

Snake case, usually. Some perhaps unfounded fear that something will blow up on a dash in a file name kicking around. Or I'll do a weird typo/premature enter and part of the file name will be treated like a -flag of some sort.

I kebab case mine for personal files.
It's mostly because I don't have to use a modifier key and it's doesn't need url encoding and all in the same lowercase. Dot notation looks nice but I feel like dots are for extensions only. Flat case is horrible to read, screaming case even worse, camel/pascal case to many times ends up as coolFileNAme on first time typing.
I've done a couple of different styles because of programming in different languages but now if I have to do anything that's not kebab case I make a small frown.

Whatever case I get when my finger reaches the shift key.
- The guy on shift before you got the Case of the Missing Variable. What will you get when your finger reaches that shift? Who knows... It will remain... A_Mystery!

Pascal_Snek_Case

Both snake and camel case. Sometimes I mix it in the same project and I hate myself for it

Camel case for short names snake case if it starts getting hard to read

If it’s something that will be mostly interacted with over CLI then kebab case. If GUI then spaces

I don't like it but I am used to reading old C codebase (windows: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/stg/coding-style-conventions) with Hungarian notation.
pszMyString 😥
- That's called camelCase, right? starting off small and then use Upper. Hungarian notation is a form of camelCase, just with the type added in front I think. But that's for coding standards, not filenames. One can think of Hungarian notation as to what file extensions is to files, just added in front. Imagine files named as "txt.MyFile", just for illustration.
  
  Ah yes I dont know what I thought OP was asking about coding standards 😂

General purpose: Kebab case
But really, follow the conventions of what you're working on. For example, I'd use pascal case when working on a Java/Kotlin project, and snake case when working on a Python project.

For files, date+Snake: 20240831Letter_to_Rodney.odt For variables, Screaming

code: camel or snake, depending on language
files/dirs: snake + kebab + dot mixture (trying to avoid caps and special chars here)

Snake if writing in python
Camel if writing in PowerShell
I tend to stick with what the language wants me to use.

My file

I generally end up using snake case.

I've got one more to add to your list, and I hate it, but it's worth mentioning: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_notation
It's when the data type is in the name of the variable.
- Oh, that was always the standard for Game Maker to differentiate between sprites and objects, which typically had similar names. It's a difficult thing to unlearn!

Have been defaulting to kebab case for variable and function names in all languages recently because of cargo yelling at me
Pascal case for class names cause c#, snake case for python files because it doesn't like kebab
Screaming case for env files because that's what everybody else does

stOcHaStIC-l33t-CasE FTW yizzo.
- Are you including the spaces in your filenames?
  
  oFCoURsE! And the dot at the end with no file type extension? Also intentional.

Snake case or kebab case I guess. But why is it called kebab case?
- Because it looks like the words are on a rod, like kebab meat
  
  Huh thanks,, I guess it's based on a misunderstanding of the word kebab then. Correctly it would have to be called şiş/shish case then, but that certainly has less of a ring to it.

I go with the "quotation case", "Cool file name".

I use flat case most of the time, but I also try to stick to single word files so there is no case to get in the way.
I think for documents I might share like a PDF I'd use Pascal case.
In a classroom or teaching setting I will sometimes use Kebab case as I find it is the least confusing and makes it extra clear where the word division is. Similarly I avoid Dot notation since it's confusing for folks coming from a Windows world.
And I would avoid Screaming because that's just too loud anywhere.
- Isnt CAPSLOCK case for screaming? 😁
  
  YEAH CRUISE CONTROL BABY

Depending on the file it’s either dot notation or flat case.

FileName_IMPORTANTCATEGORIZATION.yyyy.ext
With all bits being optional (not every file needs the date it refers to)
So eg (slight modifications for anonymity):
SunLifeInsureance_SIGNED.2024.Q1.pdf
SpotDoesTrickAndFalls_ORIG.mp4
JSmithPassport_CANADA.2015_2025.pdf (I am a dual citizen)
JSmithCOVIDPass_DOSE1.2021.pdf