SQL Server Team-based Development - Red Gate Software

Chapter 1: Writing Readable SQL
Pluralizing
A pluralizer will always name a table after a quantity of entities rather than an entity. The
Customer table will be called Customers, and Invoice will be Invoices. Ideally, the
use of a collective name for the entities within a table is best, but failing that, the singular
noun is considered better than the plural.
Abbreviating (or abrvtng)
An abbreviator will try to make all names as short as possible, in the mistaken belief that
the code will run faster, take less space, or be, in some mystical sense, more efficient.
Heaving out the vowels (the "vowel movement") is a start, so that Subscription
becomes Sbscrptn, but the urge towards the mad extreme will lead to Sn. I've heard
this being called "Custing," after the habit of using the term Cust instead of Customer. To
them, I dedicate Listing 1-1.
CREATE TABLE ## ( # INT )
DECLARE @ INT
SET @ = 8
INSERT INTO ##
( # )
SELECT @ % 2
SELECT *
FROM ##
Listing 1-1: Abrvtng mdnss.
This habit came from the old Fortran days when you could only use six characters at the
most. SQL 92 allows 18 characters, but SQL Server has no practical limit, though you
must keep it under 128 characters.
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