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=0.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,NORMAL_HTTP_TO_IP, NUMERIC_HTTP_ADDR,REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no 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: 10a146,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid10a146,public X-Google-Thread: 1073c2,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid1073c2,public X-Google-Thread: 101deb,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid101deb,public X-Google-Thread: 107a89,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid107a89,public X-Google-Thread: 11440e,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid11440e,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-25 12:35:47 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!news.gv.tsc.tdk.com!falcon.america.net!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newshub2.rdc1.sfba.home.com!news.home.com!news1.rdc1.bc.home.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Roedy Green 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 ? Organization: Canadian Mind Products Reply-To: roedy@mindprod.com Message-ID: References: <3B0DBD4A.82943473@my-deja.net> <9ekrc2$hk0$1@news.fsu.edu> <9eln0p$24p$1@nh.pace.co.uk> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.8/32.548 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 19:31:20 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.76.128.193 X-Complaints-To: abuse@home.net X-Trace: news1.rdc1.bc.home.com 990819080 24.76.128.193 (Fri, 25 May 2001 12:31:20 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 12:31:20 PDT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ruby:9920 comp.lang.ada:7776 comp.lang.awk:2600 comp.lang.clarion:20369 comp.lang.java.programmer:70829 comp.lang.pl1:640 comp.lang.vrml:3327 Date: 2001-05-25T19:31:20+00:00 List-Id: 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.