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From: wemagor@sym1.cca.rockwell.com (Wayne Magor)
Subject: Re: Warning: Religious naming convention discussion :-) [was: assign help!!]
Date: 1997/05/16
Date: 1997-05-16T00:00:00+00:00	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <5li577$ur4@castor.cca.rockwell.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 87C44AD748359DF0.5E24E5EEBAEC0D8B.B6219AA25FB36D5D@library-proxy.airnews.net



clines@delete_this.airmail.net (Kevin Cline) writes:
>
>dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) wrote:
>>
>>I know that some coders and some coding standards are allergic to
>>abbreviations, but I don't mind short identifiers and abbreviations if
>>they have a small local scope.
>
>I think this is an important point.  For identifiers that have small scope,
>almost any name will do if it has some mnemonic value.  Because I don't like
>to even remember which abbreviation was chosen, I use single letter variable
>names for temporaries in small functions whenever possible.

Good point.  It is a matter of degree and scope.  Single letter variable
names are very appropriate in certain contexts.  For example, I use them
extensively as FOR loop variables, since it usually has no meaning other
than to count which iteration we are on.

Using long names too often can actually make code *harder* to read.  We
are already deluged with so many concepts, classes, and structures that
we don't need to clutter things by naming unimportant items.  The reader's
attention should be focused on what is important.  Those are what deserve
good (possibly long) names.





  parent reply	other threads:[~1997-05-16  0:00 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 103+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
1997-05-05  0:00 assign help!! Ivan Gou
1997-05-06  0:00 ` Michael F Brenner
1997-05-07  0:00   ` Charles H. Sampson
1997-05-08  0:00     ` Warning: Religious naming convention discussion :-) [was: assign help!!] John G. Volan
1997-05-09  0:00       ` Kevin Cline
1997-05-09  0:00         ` John G. Volan
1997-05-09  0:00       ` Jay Martin
1997-05-09  0:00         ` John G. Volan
1997-05-09  0:00         ` Jeff Carter
1997-05-09  0:00           ` John G. Volan
1997-05-10  0:00             ` Aaron Metzger
1997-05-11  0:00               ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-11  0:00                 ` John G. Volan
1997-05-11  0:00                 ` Robert A Duff
1997-05-12  0:00                   ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-12  0:00                     ` Robert A Duff
1997-05-12  0:00                       ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-13  0:00                         ` David L Brown
1997-05-13  0:00                           ` W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)
1997-05-14  0:00                           ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-13  0:00                         ` Robert A Duff
1997-05-13  0:00                           ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-14  0:00                             ` Ole-Hjalmar Kristensen FOU.TD/DELAB
1997-05-13  0:00                           ` Kaz Kylheku
1997-05-14  0:00                             ` Kevin Cline
1997-05-14  0:00                               ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-14  0:00                             ` Robert A Duff
1997-05-12  0:00                 ` Kaz Kylheku
1997-05-11  0:00               ` Simon Wright
1997-05-12  0:00               ` John G. Volan
1997-05-10  0:00             ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-10  0:00               ` John G. Volan
1997-05-11  0:00                 ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-12  0:00                   ` Robert I. Eachus
1997-05-13  0:00                     ` John G. Volan
1997-05-13  0:00                     ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-16  0:00                       ` Robert I. Eachus
1997-05-17  0:00                         ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-12  0:00                   ` John G. Volan
1997-05-11  0:00               ` Kevin Cline
1997-05-11  0:00                 ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-12  0:00                   ` John G. Volan
1997-05-12  0:00                     ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-16  0:00                 ` Wayne Magor [this message]
1997-05-16  0:00                   ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-18  0:00                     ` Nick Roberts
1997-05-20  0:00                     ` naming convention discussion Peter Hermann
1997-05-16  0:00                   ` Warning: Religious naming convention discussion :-) [was: assign help!!] John G. Volan
1997-05-14  0:00               ` Ben Brosgol
1997-05-14  0:00                 ` naming convention: trailing underscore Peter Hermann
1997-05-14  0:00                   ` John G. Volan
1997-05-15  0:00                   ` Michael F Brenner
     [not found]                 ` <dewar.863717431@merv>
1997-05-16  0:00                   ` Warning: Religious naming convention discussion :-) [was: assign help!!] Robert A Duff
1997-05-18  0:00                     ` Underscores in identifiers (was: Warning: Religious naming convention discussion :-) Ben Brosgol
1997-05-16  0:00                   ` naming convention discussion Peter Hermann
1997-05-16  0:00                     ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-20  0:00                       ` Peter Hermann
1997-05-17  0:00                   ` Warning: Religious naming convention discussion :-) [was: assign help!!] Arthur Schwarz
1997-05-17  0:00                     ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-17  0:00                       ` John G. Volan
1997-05-18  0:00                         ` Andrew Dunstan
1997-05-18  0:00                           ` Nick Roberts
1997-05-19  0:00                             ` John G. Volan
1997-05-19  0:00                             ` John G. Volan
1997-05-10  0:00             ` Kaz Kylheku
1997-05-10  0:00               ` John G. Volan
1997-05-12  0:00             ` Jeff Carter
1997-05-12  0:00               ` John G. Volan
1997-05-12  0:00             ` W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)
1997-05-12  0:00               ` John G. Volan
1997-05-13  0:00                 ` W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)
1997-05-13  0:00                   ` John G. Volan
1997-05-14  0:00                     ` naming convention discussion Peter Hermann
1997-05-14  0:00                       ` John G. Volan
1997-05-14  0:00                         ` Peter Hermann
1997-05-14  0:00                           ` John G. Volan
1997-05-15  0:00                             ` Peter Hermann
1997-05-15  0:00                           ` W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)
1997-05-14  0:00                     ` Warning: Religious naming convention discussion :-) [was: assign help!!] Do-While Jones
1997-05-14  0:00                       ` John G. Volan
1997-05-14  0:00                         ` John G. Volan
1997-05-15  0:00                         ` Tangent to Religious naming convention discussion W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)
1997-05-15  0:00                           ` John G. Volan
1997-05-14  0:00                       ` Warning: Religious naming convention discussion :-) [was: assign help!!] Stephen Leake
1997-05-09  0:00           ` John G. Volan
1997-05-10  0:00           ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-10  0:00             ` John G. Volan
1997-05-11  0:00               ` Robert Dewar
1997-05-12  0:00                 ` John G. Volan
1997-05-12  0:00               ` W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)
1997-05-12  0:00             ` W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)
1997-05-12  0:00               ` John G. Volan
1997-05-11  0:00           ` Doug Smith
1997-05-12  0:00           ` Tom Moran
1997-05-16  0:00           ` Wayne Magor
1997-05-16  0:00             ` John G. Volan
1997-05-17  0:00             ` Kevin Cline
1997-05-19  0:00               ` Doug Smith
1997-05-12  0:00       ` W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)
1997-05-12  0:00         ` John G. Volan
1997-05-12  0:00         ` John G. Volan
1997-05-10  0:00     ` assign help!! Simon Wright
1997-05-14  0:00       ` Nick Roberts
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