Re: Variable names
Re: Variable names
- Subject: Re: Variable names
- From: BareFeetWare <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:27:27 +1100
On 12/01/2011, at 2:22 PM, Stockly, Ed wrote:
> Below is a work in progress from a few years ago.
> Please feel free to comment, critique or offer suggestions.
OK, will do.
> Variable Labels
>
> Variable labels should be descriptive of their contents.
Absolutely :-)
> Variables labels may be compound nouns that consist of two or more words merged into a single word, with capitalization marking the beginning of the second and subsequent words. The first letter of variable labels should be lowercase (to distinguish from handlers)
> Variable labels examples:
>
> userDocument
> thisItem
> myPage
> fileInUse
Yes, I use the same style, but I guess the style is arbitrary as long as the actual name is descriptive.
> Single Character Variable Names
>
> The exception to the previous rule is counters which serve no other function except as an index within a loop.
I disagree. I see no reason why loop counters shouldn't also be descriptive. In fact, I especially find it useful within nested loops to know exactly what each loop is counting, by looking at the name of the counter. Instead of i, j, k etc, why not describe the actual thing being counted, with names such as rowNumber, columnNumber, fileNumber, paragraphNumber etc (or use N instead of Number, eg rowN, columnN, fileN, paragraphN)?
> If using a single character variable label for integers adds any confusion a more descriptive term should be used.
I would take that further and say that not using a more descriptive term inherently omits information. While not necessarily "adding confusion" it makes it harder to understand for no good reason.
Thanks,
Tom
BareFeetWare
--
Comparison of SQLite GUI tools:
http://www.barefeetware.com/sqlite/compare/?ml
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