TFA quotes Premature optimization — everything one tries to optimize before profiling and running tests on a working system. Perhaps that same thinking needs t

TFA quotes Premature optimization — everything one tries to optimize before profiling and running tests on a working system. Perhaps that same thinking needs to apply to readability. Premature readability—everything one tries to improve readability before running tests. Readability seems a lot like pornography[0]; people claim to know it when they see it (or, in this case, when they don't) but are hard-pressed to offer a well-defined or objective description. What we get instead are well-meaning but subjective prescriptions. Shouldn't the alleged gains of readability practices be held to same measuring requirement as optimization? Are there solid, objective studies on what makes code more readable? In a small group it might be best to have a discussion about coding practises to achieve some consensus, but if that's not feasible then some guidelines based on research would help. 0: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it