Re: Spell-checking source code

["Stephen Baynes." <stephen.baynes@soton.sc.philips.com>]

"Jacob Sparre Andersen" <sparre@crs4.it> wrote in message
news:3F93925F.5060808@crs4.it...
> Jakob Bieling wrote:
>
> [ abbreviated identifier prefixes ]
>
> >     Not sure where I picked that habit up, but I guess it is pure
laziness.
> > I could not imagine having to type those long names everytime you use
them.
>
> Well.  I tend to read code more often than I write it (even my own), and
> most of my time is spent thinking about what to write, so saving a few
> keystrokes really doesn't make sense to me.
>
> > Especially counter variables in for-loops (posting from comp.lang.c++)
..
> > you also use simple i's and j's etc. there, right?
>
> No.  (unless it is for matrix and tensor manipulation, where the
> "documentation" actually says "i", "j" and "k")

To me the length of the name should reflect the size of the scope. A one
letter variable name is fine for the counter in a very short for loop, or a
temporary that is only used for a couple of adjacent statements. But if the
variable is used over many lines a longer more meaningful name is required.
Global variables tend to end up with the longest names as they have to be
used and understood in many more contexts.

Like all rules - there are exceptions. In particular if something is used
very frequently then a shorter name is desirable for convenience and
acceptable as it will be well known and understood. [eg 'stderr']

--
Stephen Baynes       CEng MBCS
My views are my own