code: public static boolean isValidName(String appName) {
          return appName != null &&
                 appName.length() > 0 &&
                 Utils.isLetter(appName.charAt(0)) &&
                 Utils.allAlphaNumUnderscore(appName);
      }
docs: Test the given string for validity as an application name. A valid application
  name must begin with a letter and contain only letters, digits, and underscores.
  
  @param  appName  Candidate application name.
  @return          True if name is syntactically valid.