Python Naming Conventions (PEP 8)

This is an attempt at consolidating the naming conventions from pep8.org. Please reach out if I have something wrong here as I’m just learning myself.

  • Module (File) names, Function names, Method names and (Instance) Variables should all use snake_case (all lowercase letters, with underscores as necessary - when in doubt, use snake case).

  • Class Names use the CapWords convention (no spaces, capitalize first letter of each word).

  • Constants should use ALL_UPPERCASE (all uppercase letters with underscores as necessary)

  • Private elements (available only internally) should have an _underscore appended in front of them.

  • If you must use a reserved keyword (something that has meaning within Python), append an underscore_ to the end of the variable (class_, min_, etc).

  • Package names use alllowercase, without underscores.

  • Never use the characters l (lowercase letter ‘el’), O (uppercase letter ‘oh’), or I (uppercase letter ‘eye’) as single character variable names.