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Code Smell 33 - Abbreviations

Code Smell 33 - Abbreviations

Abbreviating is very important so that we look smart and save memory and mind space.

TL;DR: Don't Abbreviate your objects

Problems

  • Coupling

  • Bad Naming

  • Declarativeness

  • Ambiguity

  • Readability

  • Premature Optimization

Code Smell 20 - Premature Optimization

Solutions

  1. Use meaningful/declarative names.

Examples

  • Variable naming

  • Function naming

  • Package naming

  • Class Naming

Sample Code

Wrong

package main

import "fmt"

type YVC struct {
   id int
}

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, World")
}

Right

package main

import "formatter"

type YoutTubeVideoContent struct {
    imdbMovieIdentifier int
}

function main() {
    formatter.Printline("Hello, World")
}

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

Code Smell 06 - Too Clever Programmer

Code Smell 153 - Too Long Names

More Info

What exactly is a name - Part I The Quest

What exactly is a name - Part II Rehab

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

Software Engineering Great Quotes

This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.

How to Find the Stinky Parts of your Code