Variable shorthands

Question

Not really related to programming in general.

I don't know if this is a struggle for anybody, and there's probably an easy solution to this problem, but I couldn't find any elegant solutions.

Everyone knows that if you're a programmer, you should write readable code to save time and help yourself in the future, like giving variables better names instead of s or n .

For Example:

public void doSomething(Function<> functionToDo, int numberOfTimes)

instead of:

public void doIt(Function<> f, int n)

But sometimes, if I have a long variable name and I have to type it in an equation that makes me have to scroll right to see the whole thing, that can get frustrating.

So, my question is: Is there any way I can define a shortcut variable that doesn't affect runtime or memory?

like c++'s pre-proccesor statement #define: #define n numberOfTimes

Or, if there isn't solution to this at all, should I keep long variable names for the readability, or keep things short instead?

Any ideas are appreciated.

Answer 1

It's all about the context where an identifier is declared. For instance, if your function doIt was named doNTimes it would be perfectly fine to name the parameters f and n . Also, they are local to the function so you don't need to search for their documentation (which should be just before or after the function header). As you mention, in choosing a name there is also a tradeoff between identifier comprehensibility and expression comprehensibility; whereas a more descriptive name increases the former and decreases the latter the opposite holds true for a short name.

If you know that your identifier is going to be used in complex expressions it's a good idea to use a shorter name. A function call with side-effects on the other hand will (should) only be a single statement so then the name can be longer.

To summarize, I would say that it's a good idea to keep formal parameters and local variables short as that make expressions easy to comprehend; the documentation is right there in the function anyway, eg

public void doNTimes(Function<> f, int n); /** apply f n times */

Note: In a real scenario you would also need to provide the actual parameters of f .