There are some rules of thumb for explaining the subroutine naming conventions. All subroutine names begin with the letters SK so that Surface Kinetics Subroutines are easily recognized and so that they are likely different from any user subroutine names. The four remaining letters generally identify the purpose of the subroutine.

Thermodynamic properties are referred to by CP (specific heat), H ( enthalpy), S ( entropy), U ( internal energy), G (Gibbs free energy), and A (Helmholtz free energy). The thermodynamic property subroutines may be called to return properties in mass units, denoted by MS or S as the last letter(s), or in molar units, denoted by ML or L as the last letter(s).

The mnemonics for the variable names in the subroutine call lists are roughly the same as for the subroutine names.