Why do Java programmers like to name a variable "clazz"?

Sawyer picture Sawyer · Mar 27, 2010 · Viewed 56.2k times · Source

I've seen lots of codes have declaration like Class clazz , where does this originate from ? Is this some kind of convention ? I think 'clazz' is not even an English word , has no meaning at all , how can so many programmers name a wrong name coincidentally ?

Answer

Tom Hawtin - tackline picture Tom Hawtin - tackline · Mar 27, 2010

clazz has been used in Java in place of the reserved word "class" since JDK 1.0. "class" is what you want, but abbreviating or inserting junk ("a", "the", "_", etc) reduces clarity. clazz just says class. "International" English speakers (those reading both British and American English) are used to transposing 's' and 'z'.

Since Java has had disclosed source and a suitable culture right from the start, worthwhile Java code and tutorials pick up the same conventions. That's one of the great things about the Java ecosystem, which I think has been an important part of its success.