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Since when are variables names a language issue? There is no such thing as "Java length like names", or whatever. There are good practices and bad practices an

Since when are variables names a language issue? There is no such thing as "Java length like names", or whatever. There are good practices and bad practices and they are universal.

noir_lord 8y ago
They usually aren't however they can be an issue if the idiomatic style trends towards towards bad ones.
futureastronaut 8y ago
Dogmatism and Go are peas in a pod. If your variable is longer than one character you're a dirty Java programmer, or something to that effect.
- entity345 8y ago
  Says who? This sounds like teenagers at school... Not like the people who actually created the language and who are notable experts.
- nkozyra 8y ago
  The article says basically the opposite. Local, short-lived variables are short, this is nothing new. See: the ephemeral loop variable i.
croshan 8y ago
It's really more of a language community issue, but communities of a language are commonly referred to by the name of the language itself.
- entity345 8y ago
  I'm sure there are many actual professionals using Go. Not just script kiddies. I happen to be learning Go coming from a C background. I find "The Go Programming Language" by Donovan and Kernighan exemplary and the decades of experience that went into the language really show.
  - croshan 8y ago
    No need for insinuations, that's not a point of contention. If you look past the book, and directly at the STL, you'll find a common example: the "fmt" library, shortened to save three letters. Or compare the verbosity of these two examples from language docs, and the length and descriptiveness of variable names in them: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/io/cl.html https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/io/cl.html to https://golang.org/pkg/bufio/#example_Scanner_emptyFinalToken https://golang.org/pkg/bufio/#example_Scanner_emptyFinalToke... I agree, it's a great language. These naming conventions are part of its developers and community.
    - entity345 8y ago
      Naming conventions are part of your own practices and processes. There is no issue with having short names to describe well-known entities part of the language, or trivial code. Your example from pkg.bufio is trivial and but still the variables names are meaningful. There is a difference between clearly and meaningful, and verbose. Your example from Java is not very different. I feel that the point is not being understood here.
aczerepinski 8y ago
I disagree with this because I personally change my coding style based on the language I’m writing. When I write Go I do use one letter variable names like u := User because I’m modeling what I see from some of the top Go developers (core team members, etc). When I write JS I usually follow the popular airbnb style guide and order my code differently than I would in any other language. When I write ruby I look for naming conventions that read like English. I’m always trying to write idiomatic code that will feel familiar to readers who write that language.
argd678 8y ago
Good naming is almost all that matters infact, that’s how you express your intentions to the reader. You can dispense with all other constructs in a programming language as long as it’s turing complete, but no one would be able to understand your program then.
freyir 8y ago
If you’ve seen any amount of Go and Java code (starting with, say, the standard libraries), you’d know these communities take very different approaches to variable names.
- entity345 8y ago
  The point is that you do not choose the way to name variables based on a sheepish "it's the way the community does it". You're responsible for your own code, and your organisation's code. It has nothing to do with the language.
  - sacado2 8y ago
    But then you end up with a non idiomatic coding style, which may be an issue if your code is open-sourced. I'd be very wary of a Java program where variable names are snake_cased, for instance: did they do it for a good reason? Are they just beginning java developers? Will I run into other ad hoc coding practice when trying to understand/maintain/extend their code?
    - entity345 8y ago
      Again, there is nothing "idiomatic" is poor naming, nor do I see what open source has to do with it...
      - sacado2 8y ago
        "Poor naming" is subjective. What is the correct name for a variable that associates a user's name with its configuration profile? userNameToConfigurationProfile? user_name_to_configuration_profile? userToConfig? profiles? userCfg? If there was one true way to do it, everybody would adopt it (unless you consider some communities are just plain dumb).
        entity345 8y ago
        We're discussing 'good naming' as defined in the article and first comment of this comments thread: > 2.1. Choose identifiers for clarity, not brevity Cosmetic considerations like snake or camel case are irrelevant. The advice above is standard good practice that is not dependent on the language used.

Since when are variables names a language issue? There is no such thing as "Java length like names", or whatever. There are good practices and bad practices and they are universal.

noir_lord 8y ago

They usually aren't however they can be an issue if the idiomatic style trends towards towards bad ones.

futureastronaut 8y ago

Dogmatism and Go are peas in a pod. If your variable is longer than one character you're a dirty Java programmer, or something to that effect.

entity345 8y ago
Says who? This sounds like teenagers at school... Not like the people who actually created the language and who are notable experts.
nkozyra 8y ago
The article says basically the opposite. Local, short-lived variables are short, this is nothing new. See: the ephemeral loop variable i.

croshan 8y ago

It's really more of a language community issue, but communities of a language are commonly referred to by the name of the language itself.

entity345 8y ago
I'm sure there are many actual professionals using Go. Not just script kiddies. I happen to be learning Go coming from a C background. I find "The Go Programming Language" by Donovan and Kernighan exemplary and the decades of experience that went into the language really show.
- croshan 8y ago
  No need for insinuations, that's not a point of contention. If you look past the book, and directly at the STL, you'll find a common example: the "fmt" library, shortened to save three letters. Or compare the verbosity of these two examples from language docs, and the length and descriptiveness of variable names in them: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/io/cl.html https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/io/cl.html to https://golang.org/pkg/bufio/#example_Scanner_emptyFinalToken https://golang.org/pkg/bufio/#example_Scanner_emptyFinalToke... I agree, it's a great language. These naming conventions are part of its developers and community.
  - entity345 8y ago
    Naming conventions are part of your own practices and processes. There is no issue with having short names to describe well-known entities part of the language, or trivial code. Your example from pkg.bufio is trivial and but still the variables names are meaningful. There is a difference between clearly and meaningful, and verbose. Your example from Java is not very different. I feel that the point is not being understood here.

aczerepinski 8y ago

I disagree with this because I personally change my coding style based on the language I’m writing. When I write Go I do use one letter variable names like u := User because I’m modeling what I see from some of the top Go developers (core team members, etc). When I write JS I usually follow the popular airbnb style guide and order my code differently than I would in any other language. When I write ruby I look for naming conventions that read like English. I’m always trying to write idiomatic code that will feel familiar to readers who write that language.

argd678 8y ago

Good naming is almost all that matters infact, that’s how you express your intentions to the reader. You can dispense with all other constructs in a programming language as long as it’s turing complete, but no one would be able to understand your program then.

freyir 8y ago

If you’ve seen any amount of Go and Java code (starting with, say, the standard libraries), you’d know these communities take very different approaches to variable names.

entity345 8y ago
The point is that you do not choose the way to name variables based on a sheepish "it's the way the community does it". You're responsible for your own code, and your organisation's code. It has nothing to do with the language.
- sacado2 8y ago
  But then you end up with a non idiomatic coding style, which may be an issue if your code is open-sourced. I'd be very wary of a Java program where variable names are snake_cased, for instance: did they do it for a good reason? Are they just beginning java developers? Will I run into other ad hoc coding practice when trying to understand/maintain/extend their code?
  - entity345 8y ago
    Again, there is nothing "idiomatic" is poor naming, nor do I see what open source has to do with it...
    - sacado2 8y ago
      "Poor naming" is subjective. What is the correct name for a variable that associates a user's name with its configuration profile? userNameToConfigurationProfile? user_name_to_configuration_profile? userToConfig? profiles? userCfg? If there was one true way to do it, everybody would adopt it (unless you consider some communities are just plain dumb).
      - entity345 8y ago
        We're discussing 'good naming' as defined in the article and first comment of this comments thread: > 2.1. Choose identifiers for clarity, not brevity Cosmetic considerations like snake or camel case are irrelevant. The advice above is standard good practice that is not dependent on the language used.