How many times do we see lazy argument names?

TL;DR: Name your arguments according to the role and not the accidental position

Problems

• Readability

• Intention Revealing Names

Solutions

1. Use meaningful names

Context

When writing methods, we usually don't stop to find decent names.

We never refactor the obvious, neither.

Sample Code

Wrong

class Calculator:
  def subtract(self, first, second):
    return first - second

class CalculatorTest:
  def test_multiply():
    assert equals(first, second)

Right

class Calculator:
  def subtract(self, minuend, subtrahend):
    return minuend - subtrahend

class CalculatorTest:
  def test_multiply():
    assert equals(expectedValue, realValue)

Detection

[x] Manual

We can warn for forbidden words like 'first' and 'second' as argument names.

Tags

• Readability

Conclusion

Always follow rule suggesting parameter.

Name your collaborators according to the role.

Relations

More Info

Credits

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

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Final source code is the real software design.

Jack Reeves

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This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.