The Pike essay linked elsewhere in the comments puts it this way: [snip] Finally, I prefer minimum­length but maximum­information names, and then let the conte

The Pike essay linked elsewhere in the comments puts it this way: [snip] Finally, I prefer minimum­length but maximum­information names, and then let the context fill in the rest. Globals, for instance, typically have little context when they are used, so their names need to be relatively evocative. Thus I say maxphysaddr (not MaximumPhysicalAddress) for a global variable, but np not NodePointer for a pointer locally defined and used. This is largely a matter of taste, but taste is relevant to clarity. [/snip] One could argue that the variable m, within the context of that method, is easily understood as a Message. All that said, I'd prefer msg--two extra tokens per line isn't really going to clutter the code, and likely make it easier for other programmers to understand what's going on.