28.3 Naming attribute classes and attribute specifications

By convention, attribute class names are post-pended with ' Attribute ' (we have named our attribute classes Author Attribute , StatusOfClass Attribute , and Buggy Attribute ). This is not compulsory, but it is conventional and highly recommended.

You might have realized that when using the three attributes as attribute specifications in MyClass.cs , I used the shortcut Author instead of AuthorAttribute , and Buggy instead of BuggyAttribute . The C# compiler automatically searches for the AuthorAttribute class when it encounters ' Author ' in an attribute specification. ^[3]

^[3] It is possible to write two separate attribute classes “ one by the name of AuthorAttribute , and the other called Author . In such cases, ambiguity will arise when ' Author ' is used in attribute specifications. There will be a compilation error in such cases. Nevertheless, you shouldn't be writing attribute classes with such confusing names. Stick to naming all your custom attribute classes Something Attribute .

You can replace the [Author] attribute tag in attribute specifications with [AuthorAttribute] with no consequences. C# gives you this flexibility.

This code:

 6:   [  Author  ("Mok","21 Dec 02")] 7:   public void DoSomething(){ 8:     // some code 9:   } 

and this:

 6:   [  AuthorAttribute  ("Mok","21 Dec 02")] 7:   public void DoSomething(){ 8:     // some code 9:   } 

are therefore equivalent.