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Strangest line of python is introductory Haskell. The use of 's' and 'st' and 'state' is the most bizarre part. Why not 'sta' to maintain arithmetic progression
by gujk 15y ago
Strangest line of python is introductory Haskell. The use of 's' and 'st' and 'state' is the most bizarre part. Why not 'sta' to maintain arithmetic progression? Or s t u since brevity is the goal?
- nooneelse 15y agoIndeed. Renaming everything in most functions (lines/snippets/etc) to be short names that all start the same will result in nigh unto gibberish. Humans distinguish words from similar words largely by the first distinct letter in them, with the size/shape of the remaining bit also helping (no way I could find a citation at the moment, but I remember this from several studies I read in a cog-sci course). So the work (and time) to read something goes up with more similarly starting (and shaped) words in the possibility pile. Also known as the "don't name characters Sauron and Saruman and then blame the readers for getting confused" rule.