Testing a movie > Authoring and scripting guidelines > Using good scripting practices |  |

Using good scripting practices

It's a good idea to follow these scripting practices:

| Use the `trace` action to send information to the Output window. (See Using the trace action.)
| Use the `comment` action to document how your ActionScript is supposed to work.
| Use consistent naming conventions to identify elements in a script. Start variable and function names with a lowercase letter and use a capital letter for each new word (`myVariableName`, `myFunctionName`). Start constructor function names with a capital letter (`MyConstructorFunction`). Most important, pick a style that makes sense to you and use it consistently.
| Use meaningful variable names that reflect what kind of information a variable contains. For example, a variable containing information about the last button pressed could be called `lastButtonPressed`. A name like `foo` would make it difficult to remember what the variable contains.
| Use the Movie Explorer to view the display list and view all ActionScript scripts in a movie. See Using the Movie Explorer.