Android coding guideline for private FINAL static variable names

Question

So i get that private vars start with 's' like

private static int sSomeInt;

but what about those that are also final ?

i like that public static final variable names are in all caps, since it seems to me that i can't modify a variable in all-caps. for me, these two feel too much the same to me, even though they're supposed to be different?

private static int sMutableInt;
private static final int sImmutableInt;

and i can't tell by the style of the variable name itself that i can't re-assign sImmutableInt (only by the actual name of it)

does Android not care about these? (not mentioned in https://source.android.com/source/code-style.html
what is a common practice for this case?

Are you specifically talking about changes to open source Android code that you may make a contribution for? That is the only place where the "rules" apply (not to an application you may develop that runs on Android). — ErstwhileIII
– ErstwhileIII, Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 23:15
sure, but i'd like to adhere to those suggestions anyways for my own apps/code. i guess that makes me a communist, but i prefer standardization for coding — David T.
– David T., Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 23:22

CommonsWare · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-11 23:14:32Z

3

The source code generally USES_ALL_CAPS_AND_UNDERSCORES for all static final data members, whether public or private.

answered Mar 11, 2014 at 23:14

CommonsWare

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4 Comments

ErstwhileIII Over a year ago

All caps with underscores is for PUBLIC static final <type> constants. So the case in the original question would match the "rule". (sImmutableInt)

David T. Over a year ago

hmmm this seems correct, and more intuitive. out of curiosity, how many occasions have you seen this? ( more than 30?)

CommonsWare Over a year ago

@DavidT.: More times than I can count. You are welcome to review the Android source code and see this pattern in use, such as in AsyncTask and Activity. To flip it around, I cannot recall ever seeing a static final not using THE_ALL_CAPS_AND_UNDERSCORES style.

David T. Over a year ago

@CommonsWare awesome. i just wanted to make sure. yeah i agree, that's what i saw in a lot of android source code also. leaving this answer unaccepted for a little bit longer to see if anyone else has any interesting perspectives that are different (since this question is slightly subjective)

atxe · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-11 23:30:28Z

That basically depends on the Java code convention you stick to. Android source code and its SDK use the all caps and underscore convention for constants.

I guess that Android is following Google Java Style: http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/javaguide.html

About your question:

// Constants
static final int NUMBER = 5;
static final ImmutableList<String> NAMES = ImmutableList.of("Ed", "Ann");
static final Joiner COMMA_JOINER = Joiner.on(',');  // because Joiner is immutable
static final SomeMutableType[] EMPTY_ARRAY = {};
enum SomeEnum { ENUM_CONSTANT }

// Not constants
static String nonFinal = "non-final";
final String nonStatic = "non-static";
static final Set<String> mutableCollection = new HashSet<String>();
static final ImmutableSet<SomeMutableType> mutableElements = ImmutableSet.of(mutable);
static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(MyClass.getName());
static final String[] nonEmptyArray = {"these", "can", "change"};

http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/javaguide.html#s5.2.4-constant-names

For instance, you can check the the View class (http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/View.html#GONE).

public static final int GONE = ...

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