Re: if statements

["Ken Garlington" <Ken.Garlington@computer.org>]

"Robert Dewar" <robert_dewar@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:8ufd4n$obj$1@nnrp1.deja.com...

: > Actually, I would also nitpick the choice of "Temp," when
: > better options are available (Initial_A, or the really
: > expressive Initial_Value_of_A).
:
: I disagree, this is long-nameitis carried to absurd extremes.
: Rewritten the way I had it the life time of Temp is three
: lines and it is obvious that it is initialized with the value
: of A. It merely obfuscates code to use long names where they
: do not help the reader. I actually think a more appropriate
: choice of name would have been T :-)

However, it's obvious it's "temporary" (i.e. has a limited scope) just from
where it's declared. The name doesn't add any value. I think what you may
actually be saying is that "everyone understands the pattern for swapping
two variables, so there's no point in worrying about the name." I would have
agreed with this, EXCEPT for the earlier post in this thread* that indicated
that beginning students DIDN'T always grasp the "obviousness" of this
pattern. Therefore, for those people, Initial_A may be worth the five extra
keystrokes.

* I'm referring to the discussion about wine and beer, which for some reason
I was able to remember :)

P. S. Here's how I would explain the swap pattern: "Imagine picking up two
very large steins of beer. Now, think about having to exchange the two
steins between your left and right hands. You probably have to put one of
the steins on the table, move the other stein from one hand to the
(now-empty) other hand, then pick back up the first stein from the table.
'A' and 'B' are your hands, 'Temp' is the table."