Naming

How are the ops named?

Each op has a name, which is not necessarily unique. This allows multiple "overloaded" ops with different combinations of parameter types, similar to the method overloading feature of Java and other programming languages.

Ops may optionally have a namespace. This is similar to packages in Java and similar features in other languages. The namespace is expressed as a prefix; such ops are referenced by their namespace, followed by a dot, followed by the op name. Ops without a namespace belong to the "global" namespace, with no prefix or dot. Two ops with the same name but different namespaces do not "overload" or "override" one other.

The naming convention for both namespaces and op names is to use a alphameric string, all lower case.

How are the Java classes named?

We use the following guidelines:

• For each kind of operation, define a package and interface with that name. E.g.: net.imagej.ops.mean with interface MeanOp for operations named mean. Copy and paste an existing interface when doing this, so you keep the style identical (NAME constant, javadoc blurb about how to annotate the @Plugin, etc.). Or better, use a Velocity template and list file to autogenerate it; see e.g. Ops.list and Ops.vm for an example.
• It is OK to have subinterfaces for different sorts of ops with the same name, if needed.
• For each FooOp interface, create an AbstractFooOp base class, as well as one or more concrete implementing subclasses, each annotated with @Plugin. If you have a single concrete implementing class, it will typically be named DefaultFooOp. See the type hierarchy of net.imagej.ops.identity for a simple example.
• The reason for the Op suffix of FooOp etc. is in case the operation works with a data structure of the same name. For example, a MeanOp might compute a Mean, a SmallestEnclosingRectangleOp might compute a SmallestEnclosingRectangle, and so on.