Naming Nodes, Scripts, and Variables

While developing scripts or creating Maya scenes, one has tremendous freedom in naming nodes, scripts, and variables.. A well-selected script name can communicate where a script comes from, what it does, and possibly what data it can manipulate. There are two reasons for including information about on what data a script operates and what it does in its name. First, by doing so one can better guess a script's purpose from the name alone. This is essential if he/she is sharing scripts with others. Second, by including both a script's function and on what it operates in its name, one reduces the risk that he/she wants to have multiple scripts with the same name. One can use any string of characters to name a script, procedure, or function that is made up of letters, numbers, or underscores. Also, a letter or an underscore character must come first. A well-selected variable name can communicate what the variable is used for and what kind of data it contains. Not only do good variable names make the scripts more readable, having a standard for global variable names helps ensure that the scripts can work well with scripts from the outside and with various scripts developed by various people in your organization. Choosing a useful scheme for naming nodes can help identify the node, even when it appears out of context. Developing utility scripts to implement the node-naming conventions can greatly reduce the amount of time one has to spend ensuring that the nodes are named properly.