Naming Conventions

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's Lua journey — lesson 10 of 90.

Good naming conventions make your code easier to read, understand, and maintain.

In Lua, variable names must follow certain rules. They can contain letters, numbers, and underscores, but they must start with a letter or underscore. Names like playerScore, health_points, and _tempValue are all valid, while 2players or my-score are not.

When naming variables, choose descriptive names that clearly indicate what the variable stores. Instead of using vague names like x or data, use specific names like playerLevel or gameScore. This makes your code self-documenting and much easier to understand later.

For multi-word variable names, Lua programmers commonly use either camelCase (like playerHealth) or underscores (like player_health). Both styles are acceptable - the key is to be consistent throughout your code. Choose one style and stick with it in your projects.

Cheat sheet

Variable names in Lua must start with a letter or underscore and can contain letters, numbers, and underscores:

playerScore = 100     -- Valid
health_points = 50    -- Valid
_tempValue = 10       -- Valid
-- 2players = 5       -- Invalid (starts with number)
-- my-score = 20      -- Invalid (contains hyphen)

Use descriptive names that clearly indicate what the variable stores:

-- Good naming
playerLevel = 5
gameScore = 1500

-- Poor naming
x = 5
data = 1500

For multi-word variables, use either camelCase or underscores consistently:

-- camelCase style
playerHealth = 100
maxSpeed = 50

-- underscore style
player_health = 100
max_speed = 50

Try it yourself

This lesson doesn't include a code challenge.

Test yourself

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All lessons in Fundamentals

1Introduction

The Language Hello World!Comments

4Operators 2 Relational & Logic

Equality Operators Relational Operators The 'and' Operator The 'or' Operator The 'not' Operator Short-Circuit Evaluation Truthy and Falsy Values Recap - Simple Logic

7Basic Conditional Logic

The if-then Statement The if-then-else Statement The elseif Statement Recap - Treasure Chest

10Tables Part 1: List-Style

What is a Table?Creating a Table Accessing Elements by Index Modifying Elements by Index The Length Operator '#'table.insert()table.remove()Recap - Manage Party Members

13Project: Simple Potion Shop

Project Setup Adding a Potion

Displaying the Inventory

Calculating Total Stock Value

Finding a Specific Potion

Selling a Potion

2Variables and Data Types

What is a Variable?Numbers Strings Booleans The Value 'nil'The type() FunctionNaming ConventionsRecap - Character Profile

5Basic Output

Printing Literals Printing Variables Printing Multiple Values Combining Strings & Variables The tostring() Function Input Cast Recap - Status Report Recap - Till 120

8String Manipulation Basics

string.len()string.upper & string.lower string.sub()string.rep()string.find()Recap - Format Username

11Tables 2: Dictionary-Style

Key-Value Pairs Creating Dictionary-Style Tabl Accessing - Bracket Notation Accessing with Dot Notation Adding and Modifying Pairs Removing Pairs with nil Recap - Item Properties

14Variable Scope

Global Variables Local Variables Why Use Local Variables?Scope and Blocks Recap - Scope Puzzle

3Operators 1 Arithmetic & Conc

Arithmetic Operators Modulo Operator Exponentiation Operator String Concatenation Operator Precedence Recap - Simple Calculations

6Project: Character Stats Disp

Welcome Message Declare Character Stats

Display Basic Stats

Add a Boolean Flag

Final Summary

9Functions Basics

Declaring a Function Calling a Function Functions with Parameters Functions with Multiple Params The 'return' Statement Recap - Area Calculator

12Loops Basics

The while Loop The repeat-until Loop The Numeric for Loop for Loop with a Step The 'break' Statement Recap - Countdown

15Final Challenges

Recap - Player Turn Recap - Simple Database Recap - Sum of Even Numbers