camellcase

Camellcase is a term sometimes used to describe a widely adopted naming convention in programming for combining multiple words into a single identifier while signaling word boundaries through capitalization. The most common form is camelCase, in which the first word starts with a lowercase letter and each subsequent word begins with an uppercase letter, for example calculateTotalPrice. A related variant, UpperCamelCase or PascalCase, capitalizes the first word as well, yielding UserAccountName. The term camellcase itself is less common and is often regarded as a misspelling or variant of camelCase.

Usage and history: The convention emerged with the rise of object-oriented programming and has since spread across many languages, including Java, JavaScript, and C#. Style guides from major communities typically prescribe camelCase for variable and function names, with PascalCase used for types or constructors. Some languages prefer snake_case (underscores) instead, such as Python, while others allow multiple conventions by context (constants, acronyms, etc.).

Rationale and considerations: CamelCase improves readability without spaces and helps keep identifiers concise. It is language-specific and interacts with tooling such as linters, code generators, and IDE autocompletion. When contributing to multilingual codebases or libraries, teams often align with the dominant convention of the primary language to reduce confusion and integration issues.

See also: CamelCase.

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