What are snake_case and camelCase?

Snake case and camel case are two naming conventions used in text coding when writing functions and variables that require multiple words. There usually isn’t a “correct” case to use, and different cases don’t affect how your code works, but some people may prefer one or the other to make their code easier to read.

In snake case, words are separated by an underscore, so snake case is sometimes written illustratively as “snake_case”. Snake case’s name comes from how the underscore looks like a snake on the ground. Python’s official style guide, PEP8, recommends the use of snake_case when writing Python code.

In camel case, words aren’t separated by a different character, but every word after the first is capitalized, so camel case can also be written as “camelCase”. Camel case’s name comes from the observation that capital letters in the middle of a word look a bit like humps on a camel’s back. Camel case is often used when writing code in Java and JavaScript.