From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.7 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,NORMAL_HTTP_TO_IP, NUMERIC_HTTP_ADDR autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 10ad19,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid10ad19,public X-Google-Thread: 107a89,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid107a89,public X-Google-Thread: 11440e,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid11440e,public X-Google-Thread: 1073c2,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid1073c2,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 101deb,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid101deb,public X-Google-Thread: 10a146,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid10a146,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-25 13:26:53 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!news.gv.tsc.tdk.com!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!sjc1.nntp.concentric.net!newsfeed.concentric.net!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!news.mindspring.net!not-for-mail From: Larry Hazel Newsgroups: comp.lang.ruby,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.awk,comp.lang.clarion,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.pl1,comp.lang.vrml Subject: Re: Long names are doom ? Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 15:23:23 -0500 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises Message-ID: <3B0EBF3B.3CBAE543@mindspring.com> References: <3B0DBD4A.82943473@my-deja.net> <9ekrc2$hk0$1@news.fsu.edu> <9eln0p$24p$1@nh.pace.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: c7.ae.9c.30 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Server-Date: 25 May 2001 20:23:28 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en,x-ns11F8K63r3NhQ,x-ns2r2e09OnmPe2 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ruby:9923 comp.lang.ada:7778 comp.lang.awk:2602 comp.lang.clarion:20371 comp.lang.java.programmer:70854 comp.lang.pl1:641 comp.lang.vrml:3328 Date: 2001-05-25T20:23:28+00:00 List-Id: Roedy Green wrote: > > On Fri, 25 May 2001 09:34:15 -0400, "Marin David Condic" > wrote or quoted : > > >If you're going to have an arbitrary and capricious limit on identifier > >length, then 42 is a better number than 31. > > You could ask it this way. Who is better able to judge whether a given > long variable is justified, somebody versed in the project or somebody > who has never seen it? > > This is a matter of style, and such a thing MIGHT be enforceable on a > PROJECT basis. > > I would like it if there were lint-like tools that guarded the > repository. They would beautify code to project standards, and > enforce restrictions decided on a per-project basis. > > They would enforce the naming rules, see Coding Conventions in the > Java glossary. > > You might even demand that each element of a variable name live in a > dictionary. What drives me nuts is maintaining somebody else's code > who can't spell. > > I could imagine that a SCID would have a project dictionary with > special terminology carefully defined. Coming cold into a project > learning the undocumented vocabulary is the hardest thing. All words > used in variable names would have to be defined if the standard Oxford > definition did not suffice. > > We need to evolve computer languages more toward communication: human > <=> human and machine => human, rather than just human => machine. > > One example would be avoiding nested scope to resolve ambiguity. > Computers have no problem with it, but in many cases it befuddles > humans. > > - > For more detail, please look up the key words mentioned in this post in > the Java Glossary at: > http://mindprod.com/gloss.html or http://209.153.246.39/gloss.html > If you don't see what you were looking for, complain! > or send your contribution for the glossary. > -- > Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products > Custom computer programming since 1963. > Almost ready to take on new work. I worked on a FORTRAN project once (F4J pilot trainer). All variable names were in a data dictionary. The compile script ran the code through a parser and looked all variable names up in the data dictionary. If you misspelled a variable or made up a new one, the program wouldn't compile. To get a new variable, you had to submit it with definition and justification to the maintainer of the data dictionary. It kept the error rate down a bunch. The project was converted to Ada as a company funded R&D project in 1985. The conversion went very smoothly. Larry