Add post: Give Your Application Pet Names

src/content/give-your-applications-pet-names.md

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+---
+title: Give Your Applications Pet Names
+date: 2024-04-29
+author: Nathan
+desc: |
+  Creating naming schemes for your applications is simple and improves the
+  quality of communication among developers.
+img: /img/tabby-wearing-collar-with-military-dog-tag-up-close.webp
+---
+
+Deployable applications deserve to have pet names to make communicating about
+them easier. Pet names are simple, memorable names that we assign to things of
+importance. A pet name is not descriptive and has no special meaning other than
+identifying that which is named.
+
+## Why Use Pet Names
+
+Naming things is one of the hardest aspects of software design. Well-named
+variables, types, and functions generally will have names that communicate
+their purpose. Intuitively we want to name our applications based on the same
+principles — descriptively based on their intended function. The problem with
+naming applications descriptively is twofold: firstly, name collisions are
+highly likely; and secondly, a descriptive name can lose its accuracy over
+time.
+
+Naming applications descriptively will tend to apply domain terminology that is
+likely to collide with other elements within a code base. For example, "payment
+service" might be the name of a code module within an application. If an
+application is also called "payment service" then we have name collision which
+creates ambiguity with any comms relating to these components.
+
+The scope of an application's responsibilities tends to shift over time. New
+capabilities get added or broken away as the architecture of the overall system
+evolves. A "payment service", for example, may evolve such that it gains the
+responsibility of sending notifications or loses the responsibility of
+persisting transactions directly to a ledger. When this happens, the original
+name can become a source of confusion.
+
+A pet name, on the other hand, gives us a name that we can use to refer to an
+application unambiguously regardless of what other elements exist in the system
+with similar responsibilities and regardless of how its responsibilities change
+over time.
+
+## What Counts as an "Application"?
+
+An application is a software component that is packaged and deployed
+independently. It may take one of many forms such as Docker images that are
+deployed to Kubernetes, tarballs that are deployed to a CDN, or native
+applications that are deployed to an app store.
+
+The name of an application will appear in many places throughout the overall
+system such as in documentation, source repositories, written and spoken comms,
+application logs, and client integrations.
+
+Wherever application names appear, pet names provide precision and certainty
+over the context.
+
+## How to choose pet names
+
+There are three simple rules to make selecting pet names easy:
+
+1. Create a naming register
+2. Follow a theme for name selection
+3. Assign names in alphabetical order
+
+### Create a naming register
+
+The naming register is a centralized list of assigned application names. The
+register may also include chosen but unassigned names. The register can be
+hosted in your shared internal documentation tool.
+
+Register entries may include extra related information like links to source
+repositories or documentation.
+
+The register should be accompanied by the rules that have been selected for
+naming so everyone can agree to and follow them.
+
+### Follow a theme for name selection
+
+Restrict names to a pool of available names. Select the pool of names by
+choosing a theme. Ideally, the pool of names should have plenty of easily
+pronounceable words. Words with fewer syllables are also preferable.
+
+Choosing the theme is the hardest part. A larger group will struggle to agree
+on a naming scheme so an executive decision will likely be required.
+
+Themes I have seen used for naming include mountains, lakes, rocks, chemical
+elements, satellites, truck manufacturers, and Pokemon characters.
+
+### Assign names in alphabetical order
+
+A good theme will have a pool of available names which provides a large amount
+of choice. When faced with too many choices, name selection will still be
+difficult. There will likely be an urge to find names with double meanings.
+Clever metaphors are great for product marketing but not required for internal
+pet names.
+
+At the end of the day, the name is unimportant and time spent deliberating over
+name selection is wasteful. We can further reduce the burden of name selection
+by choosing names starting with distinct letters. Cycling to the next letter of
+the alphabet for each chosen name eliminates most of the choice.
+
+Distributing names across the alphabet will also improve developer experience
+when using auto-completion.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+When building a new software system, one of your first tasks should be to
+define the naming scheme for your deployable components. Once you have a naming
+scheme in place, comms relating to your applications become clearer and your
+colleagues will love you for it.
+
+