I can think of a lot of exceptions to this though: x,y,z,i,j,t,dt,dx,in,out... all standard, least-surprise variables. In any software that processes images you

I can think of a lot of exceptions to this though: x,y,z,i,j,t,dt,dx,in,out... all standard, least-surprise variables. In any software that processes images you just know what x and y mean, more clearly than if they were called column and row. Same for t and dt in anything that involves physics simulation. And a function like Vector add(Vector x, Vector y) really doesn't benefit from being called Vector add(Vector firstvector, Vector secondvector) or such. I think the divergence in opinions may simply come from working in different domains. In business software, I imagine the types of data may be a lot more varied than in DSP software and such, so a longer variable name may help keep track of things.