Hungarian Notation: A Definition

Hungarian Notation is a naming convention used in computer programming to indicate the data type of a variable. The convention was invented by Charles Simonyi, a Hungarian-born software engineer who worked at Microsoft Corporation in the 1980s. The notation was originally developed to help Simonyi and his colleagues write code for the first versions of Microsoft Word.

The basic idea behind Hungarian Notation is to add a prefix to the name of a variable that indicates its data type. For example, a variable that stores an integer value might be named “iCount”, while a variable that stores a string might be named “strName”. The prefix “i” indicates that the variable is an integer, while the prefix “str” indicates that the variable is a string.

While Hungarian Notation was originally developed for use with the C programming language, it has since been adopted by other programming languages, including C++, Java, and C#. The notation has also evolved over time, with different prefixes being used for different data types.

Despite its popularity, Hungarian Notation has been criticized by some programmers for being too verbose and cluttering up code. Others argue that it can be confusing, especially when different prefixes are used for the same data type in different parts of a program.

Despite these criticisms, Hungarian Notation remains a popular naming convention in many programming communities. It can be especially useful for large programming projects, where it can help programmers quickly identify the data type of a variable without having to search through the code.

Overall, Hungarian Notation is a useful tool for programmers who want to write clear, readable code. While it may not be appropriate for every programming project, it can be a valuable addition to a programmer’s toolkit.