How to Write Unmaintainable Code – Naming

http://mindprod.com/jgloss/unmainnaming.html

by dhatch387 • 11 years ago

85 42 11 years ago

x0054• 11 years ago

OP forgot an important tool: store as many variable as possible in one long array. When ever possible use predefined constants like "one," "first," and "superVar" to refer to the index of the desired value in the Array, make sure that all of the above mentioned constants have the same value and are defined in different parts of the code.

gonzo41• 11 years ago

don't forget tmp, tmp1 and tmp2.

detaro• 11 years ago

Python: put everything in a list, then insert it into itself on multiple positions. Then go nuts using slice syntax. Occasionally use hex or octal numbers.

BinaryIdiot2• 11 years ago

You monster

omnibrain• 11 years ago

Where "one = 0" and "first = 1".

mercurial3• 11 years ago

In the interest of fairness, and in regards to the "Underscore, a friend indeed", I'll point to the existence of eg, $_ and @_ as built-in Perl magic variables (you can get away with not using $_, but not @_). I have also been know to use _ for a variable I will not use later (eg, if a function returns two values but I'm only interested in one).

Additionally, in languages with pattern matching, '_' usually works like '*' and matches everything.

csirac2• 11 years ago

It's been a while since I did much perl, but FWIW I seem to recall doing (undef, my $foo) = do_stuff(). Perhaps modern perls have tightened up allowing undef as the target of an assignment.

mercurial3• 11 years ago

Ah, I don't really use $_ for discarding variables, precisely because it is a magic variable.

BinaryIdiot2• 11 years ago

My favorite way of doing naming in JavaScript is using ಠ_ಠ as a variable (especially if I need to create some sort of quick "hack" to make some sort of urgent issue go away).

Also fun is using reserved JavaScript keyboards inside of JavaScript objects which, while legal, rarely color correctly in code editors.

rogeryu2• 11 years ago

I search Amazon and Ebay for reserved Javascript keyboards, but haven't found any. I'm now going to search for Javascript objects and hope to find them there!

mercurial3• 11 years ago

Phone auto"correction" at work, I reckon.

billforsternz2• 11 years ago

Also; Always name binary variables to avoid hinting to the maintenance programmer which way round they work. Good: result, status, flag. Bad: okay, error, valid.

jmpeax• 11 years ago

"If anyone even hints at breaking the tradition honoured since FØRTRAN of using i, j and k for indexing variables, namely replacing them with ii, jj and kk, warn them about what the Spanish Inquisition did to heretics."

Hold on, should we use i instead of ii, or not use it? I fucking hate these double-negative articles.

GeneralMayhem• 11 years ago

The article is saying not to mess with the "religious" tradition of i/j/k, which means that the author actually things that ii/jj/kk are better. I don't think it's hard to follow, really, unless maybe if English isn't your first language.

billforsternz2• 11 years ago

This is a weird one. Using i,j,k for loop values is fine, especially tight inner loops. I can't see that ii,jj,kk adds anything. And I don't see much point in using verbose names like innerLoopIterator or arrayIdx or whatnot for these type of variables either.

Actually later on in rule 20 he implies (with negative logic of course) that i is actually a good inner loop variable name. So that's an inconsistency right there.

rodgerd• 11 years ago

The broader site is like window into an Internet largely long-gone, like digging out Usenet postings.

fezz• 11 years ago

Use hipster baby names if your code will be seen by hipsters: http://nameberry.com/list/264/Hipster-Baby-Names

yonran• 11 years ago

When you need to prevent quick grepping in Java, you can also take advantage of the fact that unicode escapes can occur everywhere in a java file, not only within quotes. So you can declare an int by writing “\u0069\u006e\u0074 \u0069 = 1;” (equivalent to “int i = 1;”)

tatterdemalion• 11 years ago

Why not \u0069\u006e\u0074\u0020\u0069\u0020\u003d\u0020\u0031\u003b ?

reitzensteinm• 11 years ago

It's important to use this sparingly. When grepping is obviously broken, the adversary will adapt, most likely by writing a script to rewrite the Unicode, then it's back to business as usual.

On the other hand, if grep has a 95% success rate, the adversary may well never notice, and build his or her mental model of the program on flawed understanding. That's when the real fun begins.

2muchcoffeeman• 11 years ago

This is why I turn on spell check in Idea and fix spellings.

zvrba• 11 years ago

An IDE should tackle this w/o any problem.

wirrbel• 11 years ago

another great way of making code unmaintainable:

Either with or without the underscore: Characters are for free, why don't you turn your variable name into a short story?

rosser• 11 years ago

I once worked on a project where every class was named after a martial arts weapon. As cute as that might have seemed, I quickly grew tired of asking questions like, "Should I be using the Shuriken or the Wazikashi here?"

We ended up scrapping that code and doing a ground-up rewrite.

pavlov• 11 years ago

That's how I feel with some dependency-heavy projects I encounter.

Particularly in the Rails and JavaScript package-spheres, every other library has an incomprehensible name that turns out to be an obscure reference to some pop-culture thing (and often some other library as well, to make it even more undecipherable).

I guess it's fun for the developers and makes their résumé look more interesting ("I made a process monitor called Stiglitz, it's named after a Tarantino character!"). But it's tiresome for the person who has to read the code where these characters go about their exciting adventures updating database records, concatenating strings and sending email.

alreadyAlready• 11 years ago

Hmmm... nothing about XML... pity.

FrankenPC• 11 years ago

Number 11 is unbelievably devious. I wonder how many compilers are OK with that?

----------------------------------------------- Use accented characters on variable names, e. g. --typedef struct { int i; } ínt; where the second ínt’s í is actually i-acute. With only a simple text editor, it’s nearly impossible to distinguish the slant of the accent mark.

bdcravens• 11 years ago

Remember with unicode support for variable names you can use emoji:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29696768/which-emoji-can-...

newman8r2• 11 years ago

😢

newman8r2• 11 years ago

val lyricsFromAshittyRapSongYouNeverHeardOf = true

zyxley• 11 years ago

If working in PHP, make sure to use lots of variable variables (https://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.variable.php).

  $a = 'cat';
  $$a = 'hello';

  echo "$a"; // "cat"
  echo "$cat"; // "hello";

MichaelGG• 11 years ago

Short variable names are fine with context. "cs : Customer list" - we know it's a list of customers from the type, no need to repeat. And a loop on it could easily be "for c in cs". Single letters are also useful in local or anonymous functions.

Reuse identifiers? Yes! If I've got a parameter foo that's a string, then I convert it into an int and never use the string again, why not rebind the identifier? It makes it clear the old foo is no longer in use, and prevents such use.

rogeryu2• 11 years ago

Please don't forget to use multiple properly named symlinks here and there.

spdionis• 11 years ago

When you access arrays by index do not use magic numbers. Define FIRST = 0 and SECOND = 1 for example.

reacweb• 11 years ago

When you fix a function, leave the broken function still present with another name.

gargalatas• 11 years ago

Just for the history, i stands for the (i)terator and not (i)ndex..

How to Write Unmaintainable Code – Naming

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