良好的作法：C变量

Question

Could I get people's opinions on naming variables when passed to functions? I've looked at a few guides but can't see anything specific on this.

I'm passing a variable to a function and for clarity (I hope), I'm giving it the same name in main as in the function. I know they are not the same variable (just passed by value), but they represent the same thing; is there a reason to change their name that is more important than the complexity it would add?

Example, I have been using:

main(){

int cakes, cost, total;
cakes = 2;
cost = 11;

total = sum(cakes, cost);
printf("The total cost for %d cakes is '%d'.\n", cakes, total);

return 0;
}

int sum(int cakes, int cost){
  int total;
  total = cakes * cost;

  return total;
}

Should I be using eg fcakes , fcost , ftotal in the function, and if so why?

Cheers,

W

Answer 1

If you want to use your Sum function for something else than cakes, naming might be important.

main(){

    int cakes, bananas, apples, cost, bananascost, applecost, total;
    cakes = 2;
    bananas = 42;
    apples = 69;
    cost = 11;
    bananascost = 5;
    applecost = 12;

    total = sum(cakes, cost);
    printf("The total cost for %d cakes is '%d'.\n", cakes, total);
    total = sum(bananas, bananascost);
    printf("The total cost for %d bananas is '%d'.\n", bananas, total);
    total = sum(apples, applecost);
    printf("The total cost for %d apples is '%d'.\n", apples, total);
    return 0;
}

int sum(int number1, int number2){
    int result;
    result = number1 * number2;
    return result;
}

Answer 2

It is not a bad idea, but I think the problem is more related to the design. For instance, sum function is to sum (or whatever), instead of adding just cakes and cost. Doing a function as generic as possible (even to be easily used in another project) solves this kind of problems.

Answer 3

If you use the same name in main and in sum you have got two different variables with different scope with the same name. That could be difficult to debug.