Does a method name starting with "Does" look good?

Question

Is it a good practice to start a method name with "Does" (in C#)? It looks a little bit weird to me, so I would like to get your opinion.

I am writing a method which check if an account exists or not, should the signature be "bool DoesAccountExist(id)"? Is there a better name?

Thanks!

It looks like you are not thinking ahead to how your boolean returning function will be used. Go with AccountExists, I upvoted accordingly. — Jodrell, May 04 '11 at 17:37
`bool answer = DoesAMethodNameLookGoodStartingWith("Does");` — BoltClock, May 04 '11 at 18:17

score 38 · Accepted Answer · answered May 04 '11 at 17:34

38

Personally I'd go with AccountExists(id) in this case, since it will look more natural in an if block

if (AccountExists(id)) { }

answered May 04 '11 at 17:34

Patrick

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You beat me to the AccountExists() name. Good for you. – David May 04 '11 at 17:35

score 23 · Answer 2 · answered May 04 '11 at 17:35

23

We always use Is for any method that will return a boolean, so in this case we would call the method

IsExistingAccount(id)

answered May 04 '11 at 17:35

Leons

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amazingly but this helped my rectangular programmer head quite a bit :) the point being the 'existing' form, you can place everything under that - like `IsRefreshing...` - and I too like the idea of having a single prefix for all - otherwise you need 'should' 'has' 'does' etc. depending on what you're dealing w/ - the most helpful answer of all – NSGaga-mostly-inactive Apr 17 '16 at 17:10

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 21 '13 at 17:34

4

I usually leave off the Does and simply use AccountExists(id).

To me it looks more natural later in code such as:

if(AccountExists(id))
{
    ValidateLogin();
}

The alternative would be something like:

if(!DoesAccountExist(id)) {}

seems odd to me. I would read that as if does account not exist? Which makes less then account does not exist.

edited Feb 21 '13 at 17:34

stivlo

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answered May 04 '11 at 17:34

PFranchise

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+1 for showing how bad `Does` would look in a `if(!` construct – Adriano Carneiro May 04 '11 at 17:48

Ricibob · Answer 4 · 2015-11-16T08:30:10.543

The "Is" prefix idiom help clarify methods like Array "Empty" which might mean "empty the array" or "is the array empty?". If used consistently "IsEmpty" is clearly the bool return and by convention "Empty" becomes clear as the action of emptying.
In the context of the question I agree with @Andy Whites second suggest:

if (IsExitingAccount) ...

Here the 'Is' triggers a strong automatic implication of bool return constistant with its use else where (IsEmpty, IsNull, etc)

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered May 04 '11 at 17:37

I think AccountExists is your best bet, but one other option is: IsExistingAccount. For methods or properties that return a boolean, it can be useful to use a naming convention where the method begins with the word "is". If you use "is," you'll have to rephrase the rest of the method name so that it makes sense to the reader.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 22 '16 at 14:41

0

Another Option is to use the standard C# plural of Is, Any.

AnyAccountsExist(id)

answered Dec 22 '16 at 14:41

RitchieD

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score 0 · Answer 7 · answered May 04 '11 at 17:42

0

Can or Is could be used like CanCopy or IsAccountExists is fine too. Following predefined conventions make code more readable. To be frank Does prefix looks a bit wierd to me as well.

answered May 04 '11 at 17:42

FIre Panda

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Does a method name starting with "Does" look good?

7 Answers7