Which programming case do you prefer (for MATLAB code)?
Poll will close on 30 Jun 2026
camelCase (variableName)
33%
PascalCase (VariableName)
0%
no capitalization (variablename)
0%
snake_case (variable_name)
67%
It varies for me
0%
3 votes
4 Comments
Time Descending
I prefer snake case for most variable names, mainly because it is different than the capitalization styles used by MathWorks developers for other kinds of identifiers. It was a common capitalization style for C, back when I started programming with it in the late 1980s, so I was familiar and comfortable with it. I was disappointed that the recent coding style documentation provided by MathWorks specified a variable naming style that is the same as that used for function names.
For variable names that are based on mathematical symbols, I usually capitalize to approximate the symbols. For example, I'll use H for the Fourier transform of h, and I'll use Fs to mean sampling frequency.
I think you know who to blame for that standard 👀! I was one of the louder voices in the variable naming standards. I tried to leave room for Cleve's beautiful mathematical style and reflect common usage patterns in the examples that we ship with MATLAB (with a bias towards longer, more readable names, where appropriate).
And I think you know I've never been a fan of snake case. I also like kebab-case lately for naming some things, but that's because I've been living in the world of GitHub and AI tools.
It wasn't my intent to give you a hard time here, Michelle. You and I together learned to face the reality that every standardization effort will make at least some people unhappy. 🤷♂️ This is just a situation where I will take advantage of my MathWorks retirement to go my own way. 🙂
I kind of like kebab-case (variable-name), as hyphens are easier to repeatedly type than underscores. But it is not supported in MATLAB, due to ambiguity with subtraction, given the first-class status of that operation.
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