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0 pointsjonahx10y ago0 comments

> Code can only tell you about the implementation - never the intent.

Maybe in some purely technical sense this is true, but in a meaningful one it isn't. At an absolute minimum, names reveal intent -- which is why naming is so important.

Regarding your other example, you are always free to wrap what you don't control in objects that have the intention-revealing semantics (read: correctly named behavior) that you desire.

It's impossible to tell from that single line of code if there are other options as well (the surrounding context is missing, and that's where meaning comes from), but you always have some options. I'll grant that in some cases the cure is worse than the disease -- that is, the changes needed to truly reveal your intent in the code would lead to over-engineered complexity. But typically I find that is not the case.

0 comments

MichaelGG10y ago

Naming at the higher level is important (type names). But locals, eh, it's unlikeky that you can comprehend lines without the full context, as you say. And our working memory is limited. So might as well use 1- or 2-char names and keep the code less and thus more easily kept in-head. If this is confusing, there's probably too many locals, so setup new scopes (either by nesting or via separate functions).

jonahxOP10y ago

I agree higher level names are far more important.

But I think clarity at the local level is nice, too. Let's say your function takes a name, sanitizes it, and then does some other processing, perhaps storing it. I think this makes the code more immediately clear than 2 character names:

    function storeName(name) {
        safeName = sanitize(name);
        // do other stuff that works with safeName
        //...
    }

MichaelGG10y ago

In that case it's better to rebind name instead of introducing a new binding - it makes it impossible to misuse it. I hate languages that don't let me rebind (or sometimes, not even shadow).

zimpenfish10y ago

The surrounding context is "read in this faux-XML file". I could paste the whole method that parses the file but that line would still make no sense without an explanatory comment about the lack of spec (there's about 2x as many lines of comments as code because of this) and that some files have a duplicated `template` key but some don't and all the code which uses the `template` key assumes it's in the `config` section.

seagreen10y ago

Names are comments:)

  let thisIsAString = 1

But I agree with your overall point.

jonahxOP10y ago

This is a great point, actually. And I have seen examples of it in code bases using Hungarian notation.

In practice, though, I think this kind of "lie" both happens and persists less frequently than comments that "lie" either by inaccuracy or obsolescence. People naturally have a lazier attitude toward the upkeep of comments ("they don't really affect the code") and somehow an inaccurate variable name seems more brazen than an incorrect comment.

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0 pointsjonahx10y ago0 comments

> Code can only tell you about the implementation - never the intent.

Maybe in some purely technical sense this is true, but in a meaningful one it isn't. At an absolute minimum, names reveal intent -- which is why naming is so important.

Regarding your other example, you are always free to wrap what you don't control in objects that have the intention-revealing semantics (read: correctly named behavior) that you desire.

0 comments

MichaelGG10y ago

jonahxOP10y ago

I agree higher level names are far more important.

    function storeName(name) {
        safeName = sanitize(name);
        // do other stuff that works with safeName
        //...
    }

MichaelGG10y ago

In that case it's better to rebind name instead of introducing a new binding - it makes it impossible to misuse it. I hate languages that don't let me rebind (or sometimes, not even shadow).

zimpenfish10y ago

seagreen10y ago

Names are comments:)

  let thisIsAString = 1

But I agree with your overall point.

jonahxOP10y ago

This is a great point, actually. And I have seen examples of it in code bases using Hungarian notation.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse