Code Smell 33 - Abbreviations
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Abbreviating is very important so that we look smart and save memory and mind space.
Problems
Coupling
Bad Naming
Declarativeness
Ambiguity
Readability
Premature Optimization
Solutions
- Use meaningful/declarative names.
Examples
Variable naming
Function naming
Package naming
Class Naming
Sample Code
Wrong
Right
Detection
We can't automate choosing what is a short name and a declarative.
Some "modern" and shinny languages enforce this bad practice. So we should wisely choose a good language instead.
Tags
- Declarative
Conclusion
Computer science was born from the mother of science (mathematics). In math, the assignment of single letter variables (i, j, x, y) is a good practice.
The concept of reference arose from the variable.
Many people wondered why mathematicians can work with such short variables, and computer scientists cannot.
For mathematicians, once entered into a formula, variables lose all semantics and become indistinguishable.
We need to care more about semantics and reading.
Our brain wastes a lot of energy figuring out what is the meaning of an abbreviation.
Sometimes we even mistake them
/usr stands for universal system resources not user
/dev stands for device not development.
It is 2020, We need to write software for humans, not for compilers.
Relations
More info
Credits
Photo by Jessica Knowlden on Unsplash
A long descriptive name is better than a short enigmatic name. A long descriptive name is better than a long descriptive comment.
Robert Martin
This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.
☝ UI/UX/ML | ✍️ Technology Blogger | 🎤 Speaker
Maxi, Someone told me a while back, name your variables with the same care as you would do it for your kids! It was a heavy but useful warning 😃!
Loved your series so far!
Software Engineer
Hm... It twists my mind when I cannot find package called "formatter", and everyone referring to sources or documentation will be confused about import "formatter" even being possible in Go, because in this case formatter is an alias for fmt 🤷♂️
Better example of inapproptiate usage would be: abbreviations that persist without definition in glossary and too many abbreviations.
We read both when understanding code. Of course, we read more 'variables' than 'packages'
And I'm certain:
Standard Library > Good names
What can we have the best of both worlds?
Why a "modern" language have the same problems as a 50s one?
Languages force culture. So a legion of Go developers will write lousy names, and we will need to maintain that ugly code.
Code is read 10 times for every 1 write and modern compilers are not biased by length and don't need to save space.
50s problems on modern languages.
Maxi Contieri thanks for detailed proposal! This topic really should bring up how bad abbreviations are born in programming culture and how they affect the technical debt ☝️👍
Developer Advocate, Hashnode
This series is very amazing. I can't wait to see the next code smell list.
You also write consistently as well. Do you mind sharing some tips with me? 😉
Thank you, @Edidiong Asikpo](@didicodes)!
I started this series as a twitter thread, so I'm writing back several people's experiences.
I create new drafts when I'm writing articles to keep focus on the main one. Then I publish them when I think they are mature enough.
Seems obvious, but to have the habit you need to fake it for some time.
Here are more advices!
Hope this helps
This makes a lot of sense Maxi. Thanks for the information.
I'll read through the article you shared and let you know if I have any other questions 💛
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