SQL Server Team-based Development - Red Gate Software

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Chapter 1: Writing Readable SQL
Hopefully, the developer will already have been provided with the standard data
definitions for the attributes of the data elements, data element concepts, value
domains, conceptual domains, and classification schemes that impinge on the scope
of the application. Even so, there is still the task of naming things within the application
context. For this, there are international standards for naming conventions, which are
mostly taken from ISO 11179-5:
• procedures should be a phrase, consisting of singular nouns and a verb in the
present tense, to describe what they do (e.g. removeMultipleSpaces or
splitStringToTable)
• be consistent with the way you denote word boundaries, the use of the underline
character, the use of a capital letter or hyphen
• tables, sets, views, and other collections should use a collective name, a name for a
group of entities, such as "flock," "ledger," "team," "staff"
• scalar names should be in the singular (e.g. "cost," "date," "zip")
• any object name should use only commonly understood abbreviations, such as ZIP for
"Zone Improvement Plan"
• use standard and consistent postfixes (e.g. _ID, _name, _date, _quantity)
• where there is no established business term in the organization, use commonly understood
words for relationship tables (e.g. meeting, booking, marriage, purchase)
• use capitalization consistently, as in written language, particularly where it is used for
acronyms and other abbreviations, such as ID
• names should consist of one or more of the following components:
• object class: the name can include just one "object class," which is the terminology
used within the community of users of the application.
Examples: Words like "Cost," "Member" or "Purchase" in data element names
like EmployeeLastName, CostBudgetPeriod, TotalAmount, TreeHeight-
Measure or MemberLastName.