Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live
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Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live
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Re: Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live
#2The problem was not that the variable was abbreviated. The problem was that the abbreviated variable was so similar to another abbreviated variable that was used for a similar purpose.
Re: Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live
#3The problem was not that the variable was abbreviated. The problem was that the abbreviated variable was so similar to another abbreviated variable that was used for a similar purpose.
then there are two problems.
Re: Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live
#4The problem was not that the variable was abbreviated. The problem was that the abbreviated variable was so similar to another abbreviated variable that was used for a similar purpose.
sure but if the variable was not abbreviated the chance of collision would have been less.
Re: Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live
#5I definitely prefer more verbose names to abbreviated ones, but I'm not sure that never abbreviating a variable name is the right way to go either. Surely there's a middle ground between `Ttpfe` and `timeOfTenPercentHeightOnTheFallingEdge`?
Re: Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live
#6If the variables had been named timeOfTenPercentHeightOnTheFallingEdge and timeOfTenPercentHeightOnTheRisingEdge it probably would have still been hard to notice that they had been swapped in that one line.
Re: Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live
#7I definitely prefer more verbose names to abbreviated ones, but I'm not sure that never abbreviating a variable name is the right way to go either. Surely there's a middle ground between `Ttpfe` and `timeOfTenPercentHeightOnTheFallingEdge`?
Use context. If you can't, refactor so you can. If you can't, well, you're SOL and stuck with timeOfTenPercentHeightOnTheFallingEdge.
Edit: e.g. if all of your variables are "timeOfTenPercentHeight...", cut that part out of the name. Full names can be just as bad as abbreviations - e.g. if they're all "timeOfTenPercentHeight..." then they all start to blend together.
Re: Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live
#8"Never abbreviate a variable" is a very strong statement, surely inspiring religious wars. And maybe there are edge cases: i as a loop counter, id for an integer primary key, whatever. But this example is something else entirely; "ttpfe" is honestly the worst variable name I have every seen.
Re: Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live
#9The problem was not that the variable was abbreviated. The problem was that the abbreviated variable was so similar to another abbreviated variable that was used for a similar purpose.
Yeah, the problem isn't that the airplane is on fire, the problem is that it crashed into another burning airplane as both tumbled uncontrolled through the sky, hurdling toward the earth.
Re: Why I'll never abbreviate a variable as long as I live
#10Anyone else feel a bit uncomfortable reading the level of detail in this post?