I am having trouble when naming a variable, deciding if I should use ABC種別 or
ABC区分. I have been reading a lot of software specifications and the Japanese
description usually uses 種別 and 区分 to specify a type or a class.

When do you use 種別 and when do you use 区分? For example, for a device, would
you use 種別 or 区分 to differentiate the type here? Is this just a preference?

Added based on the context comments (2011/12/12): I was referring to customer
types. I do ask my colleague, why they use 区分、種別 or even 種類 pertaining to the
same variable but they just say they are the same. Example of usage that I
see, for example column names of database tables
(Customer=>TOKUI_KUBUN,TOKUI_SHUBETSU) or (User=>USER_KUBUN,USER_SHUBETSU). I
do think they are essentially the same with subtle difference. It just is
annoying which one is the more appropriate one especially if you want to make
a naming convention.
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2011-12-09T00:47:32.307
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2012-01-14T10:09:49.317
2011-12-27T17:10:05.430
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question
computing word-choice
When to use 種別 and when to use 区分 when programming
I'm a programmer at a Japanese company, and all of our variable names are
named in English. Sometimes it's misspelled or unclear English, but it's
English nonetheless. It's just the standard. Heck, most programming languages
don't even support non-ASCII variable names, and romaji variable names are
unwieldy and unnecessary. Of course, it all comes down to the style used at
your particular organization, and variable naming convention can really run
the gamut.

That being said, to get to your core question (if you absolutely have to give
your variables Japanese names), I would probably go with 種類 for a general sort
of type (as in the phrase "a type of customer"), タイプ for a programming data
type (as in "the integer type") and maybe 種別 or カテゴリー for a classification or
category or something.

Also, I would never use "tokui" for "customer;" I'm not even sure how you got
that. I usually see 顧客 or お客様. Or sometimes even カスタマー. But "tokui" doesn't
mean that.

Hope this answer helps! To summarize, go with English for the variable names
and comment in Japanese :)
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