Accepted Abbreviations

Abbreviations

Below is a list of abbreviations, and their meanings, which are common in code we write. We always avoid phonetic abbreviations: e.g., ‘b4’ for ‘before’.

Alloc

Allocate

App

Application

Aux

Auxiliary

Avg

Average

Btn

Button

Calc

Calculate

Cmd

Command (as in the Command key)

Ctrl

Control (as in the Control key)

Cur

Current

Dealloc

Deallocate

Dst (& sometimes dest)

Destination

Dict

Dictionary

Doc

Document

Horiz

Horizontal

ID

Identifier or identification

Info

Information

Init

Initialize

int

Integer

io

input/output (cf. Ambiguous Usage of Parameters.)

Max

Maximum

Min

Minimum

Mgr

Manager

Msg

Message

Nib

Interface Builder archive, whether it has a .nib or .xib extension

Num

Number (e.g. total number)

OP

(when appended to a variable identifier) Optional Pointer (cf. Pointers are unique.)

Opt

Option (as in the Option key)

Orig

Original or origin

P

(when appended to a variable or constant identifier) A (non-optional) pointer

Plist

Property list; note the ‘l’ is always lower case. This follows the scheme Apple typically follows. Never use plst.

Pboard

Pasteboard

Pt

Point

Ptr

(when appended to a type identifier) A pointer

Recd

Received

Rect

Rectangle

Recv

Receive

Ref

Refers to a reference; i.e., an object whose ownership is external

Rep

Representation

Src

Source

Std

Standard

Str

String

Sys

System

Temp

Temporary

TN

(in comments) Apple Tech Note

UI

User Item or User Interface

Vert

Vertical

Opposites

Begun from a list in Code Complete (p.190) by Steve McConnell.

• add/remove
• begin/end (C++ STL)
• create/destroy
• first/last
• fresh/stale (we try to avoid the word “new” in identifiers because of its memory management implications in Objective-C)
• insert/delete
• insert/remove (C++ STL)
• increment/decrement
• lock/unlock
• min/max
• next/previous
• open/close
• preserve/restore
• put/get
• send/recv
• sent/recd
• set/get
• show/hide
• source/destination (src/dst)
• source/target
• start/stop
• up/down

Qualifiers

Begun from a list in Code Complete (p.204) by Steve McConnell.

Min

The absolute first element

First

The first element relative to the current operation

Last

The last element relative to the current operation

Limit

The upper limit; a non-inclusive upper bound

Max

The absolute last element