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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM 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: 11440e,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid11440e,public X-Google-Thread: 1073c2,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid1073c2,public X-Google-Thread: 107a89,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid107a89,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 10a146,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid10a146,public X-Google-Thread: 101deb,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid101deb,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-26 15:28:07 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!cyclone-sjo1.usenetserver.com!news-out-sjo.usenetserver.com!e420r-sjo4.usenetserver.com!news-out.usenetserver.com!newshub2.rdc1.sfba.home.com!news.home.com!enews.sgi.com!news.xtra.co.nz!not-for-mail From: "AG" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ruby,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.awk,comp.lang.clarion,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.pl1,comp.lang.vrml References: <3B0DBD4A.82943473@my-deja.net> <3B0DD011.88FCD00E@acm.org> Subject: Re: Long names are doom ? X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Message-ID: <83WP6.3874$yc6.728572@news.xtra.co.nz> Date: Sun, 27 May 2001 10:25:22 +1200 NNTP-Posting-Host: 210.54.103.1 X-Complaints-To: newsadmin@xtra.co.nz X-Trace: news.xtra.co.nz 990915908 210.54.103.1 (Sun, 27 May 2001 10:25:08 NZST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 27 May 2001 10:25:08 NZST Organization: Xtra Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ruby:9978 comp.lang.ada:7810 comp.lang.awk:2613 comp.lang.clarion:20408 comp.lang.java.programmer:71067 comp.lang.pl1:655 comp.lang.vrml:3345 Date: 2001-05-27T10:25:22+12:00 List-Id: "Patricia Shanahan" wrote in message news:3B0DD011.88FCD00E@acm.org... > > > 00001111 wrote: > ... > > - "it degrades the legibility of a program to use identifiers that > > can't be easily remembered...." > ... > > That is the most important single point, and the reason why long > identifiers are a good thing to have available. > > Abbreviations in identifiers make them less memorable. One could argue though, that longer identifiers create more chances for mistakes in themselves (just by virtue of been longer) than short ones. Some other poster mentioned maintaining code written by people who can't spell but there is also the matter of different spellings. I once saw some code which used (in the same namespace) identifiers PassThruID and PassThroughIDs. They were apparently introduced by separate programmers over time and worked fine until someone confused them. Took ages to sort it out. So, while those two aren't even at 31 char limit, one could argue that 6 char limit would have precluded that sort of error :)