>>>>>>>>>MyName
>>>>>>>>>myName
>>>>>>>>>_myName
>>>>>>>>>this.MyName
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>are all valid names but the casing tells you the scope of the variable.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Please go on. I sincerely am in learning mode here. What is the scope of each of those?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Here's a sample, I wouldn't do this as a rule, but it illustrates the naming by case.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Field variables i.e. _myName are global to the class in which they are declared but since private are not available outside of class
>>>>>>>Properties (public) are global to the class in which they are declared.and are available to any thing which consumes this class
>>>>>>>Parameters use camel case and are limited in scope to the method
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>

>>>>>>> public class MyClass
>>>>>>>    {
>>>>>>>        private string _myName;
>>>>>>>        public string MyName { get; set; }
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>        public MyClass(string myName)
>>>>>>>        {
>>>>>>>            _myName = myName;
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>            this.GetNewName(myName);
>>>>>>>        }
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>        private void GetNewName(string myName)
>>>>>>>        {
>>>>>>>            this.MyName = _myName + ":" + myName;
>>>>>>>        }
>>>>>>>    }
>>>>>>>

>>>>>>
>>>>>>This is exactly how I do it today, after playing around with different guidelines that last several years.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Other picky points with me: when people do explicity scope _myName to private
>>>>>>Not using Auto-Implemented Properties
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Question: I've always been confused about how the compiler optimizes string concatonation. Should you be using String.Format or String.Concat instead of the way you're doing it? Or will the compiler optimize it?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>For short strings, as in the demo, i don't think it matters.... but for the most part I use stringbuilder to concat long strings of data.....
>>>>
>>>>Another newbie question -- isn't StringBuilder a bazillion times faster than String?
>>>
>>>AFAIK, there's no point in using a StringBuilder for something like this:

string s = "Tom" + "Dick"+"Harry"+"AsManyMoreAsYouLike"

since you are only assigning to a string once. But, since strings are immutable, if you do this:

string s = "Tom";
>>>s += "Dick";
>>>s += "Harry";

then you are, in effect, creating a new 's' and discarding the old one with every addition. In that situation using a StingBuilder comes into its own....
>>
>>Ahhh, that makes sense. It's easy to have your spider sense go off when you see plus signs and strings, so I usually just use String.Format or String.Concat (or StringBuilder for larger cases) to avoid it.
>
>I was just thinking how often I see someone not using StringBuilder at all or, if they do, not taking advantage of the fluent interface. eg. I see this:

string result = "Hello to Fred Bloggs";
>            result = result.Insert(14, "J. ");
>            result = result.Replace("Fred", "Humphrey");

rather than:

string result = new StringBuilder("Hello to Fred Bloggs")
>                .Insert(14, "J. ")
>                .Replace("Fred", "Humphrey")
>                .ToString();

Fluent interfaces FTW! I recently fell in love with them when learning NHibernate and have been trying to include them in my stuff whenever I can.