Naming Rules

C3 introduces fairly rigid naming rules to reduce ambiguity and make the language easy to parse for tools.

As a basic rule, all identifiers are limited to a-z, A-Z, 0-9 and _. The initial character can not be a number. Furthermore, all identifiers are limited to 31 character.

Structs, unions, enums and faults

All user defined types must start with A-Z after any optional initial _ and include at least 1 lower case letter. Bar, _T_i12 and TTi are all valid names. _1, bAR and BAR are not. For C-compatibility it’s possible to alias the type to a external name using the attribute “extern”.

struct Foo @extern("foo")
{
    int x;
    Bar bar;
}

union Bar
{
    int i;
    double d;
}

enum Baz
{
    VALUE_1,
    VALUE_2
}

fault Err
{
    OOPS,
    LOTS_OF_OOPS
}

Variables and parameters

All variables and parameters except for global constant variables must start with a-z after any optional initial _. ___a fooBar and _test_ are all valid variable / parameter names. _, _Bar, X are not.

int theGlobal = 1;

fn void foo(int x)
{
    Foo foo = getFoo(x);
    theGlobal++;
}

Global constants

Global constants must start with A-Z after any optional initial _. _FOO2, BAR_FOO, X are all valid global constants, _, _bar, x are not.

const int A_VALUE = 12;

Enum / Fault values

Enum and fault values follow the same naming standard as global constants.

enum Baz
{
    VALUE_1,
    VALUE_2
}

fault Err
{
    OOPS,
    LOTS_OF_OOPS
}

Struct / union members

Struct and union members follow the same naming rules as variables.

Modules

Module names may contain a-z, 0-9 and _, no upper case characters are allowed.

module foo;

Functions and macros

Functions and macros must start with a-z after any optional initial _.

fn void theMostAmazingFunction()
{
    return;
}

macro justDoIt(x)
{
    justDo(x);
}