Spelling Convention for Underworld3

Date: 2025-10-14 Status: Active Convention

Preferred Spelling: UK/Australian English

Unless demonstrating that alternative spellings are available, use UK/Australian English spelling throughout the codebase.

Common Examples

Preferred (UK/Australian)

  • metre (unit of length)

  • kilometre

  • litre

  • colour

  • centre

  • fibre

  • behaviour

  • neighbour

  • optimise

  • minimise

  • maximise

  • analyse

  • recognise

  • modelling (double-l)

Avoid (US spelling) unless showing alternatives

  • meter

  • kilometer

  • liter

  • color

  • center

  • fiber

  • behavior

  • neighbor

  • optimize

  • minimize

  • maximize

  • analyze

  • recognize

  • modeling (single-l)

Context for Alternatives

When showing that alternative spellings are accepted (e.g., in unit systems), document both:

# Example: Pint accepts both spellings
units="metre"      # Preferred
units="meter"      # Also accepted, documented as alternative

Application

This applies to:

  • Code comments

  • Documentation (.md, .rst, .qmd)

  • Docstrings

  • Variable names (where appropriate)

  • Example notebooks

  • Test descriptions

  • Error messages

  • User-facing strings

Notes

  • Existing code with US spelling doesn’t need bulk changes

  • Apply this convention opportunistically when:

    • Writing new code

    • Updating existing documentation

    • Fixing bugs in relevant sections

    • User specifically requests spelling corrections