Variables of the Veracious Variety: How to Better Name your Variables

You wouldn't really name a variable "x," would you?

But it happens.

And it's not just "x." It's "usrdb," "item," "foo," "test," "blah" and more. These are real variable names that have been encountered in production-grade codebases.

"And that's just scary!" says Adrienne Braganza-Tacke.

The senior developer advocate at Cisco has become a specialist in naming variables, which is actually more complicated and important than it may seem at first. Luckily, she's bringing her expertise to the Visual Studio Live! developer conference in Chicago, where she'll present a session titled "Variables of the Veracious Variety: How to Better Name your Variables" on April 30, 2024.

The very existence of such a presentation brings to mind the famous quote by Phil Karlton: "There are only two hard things in computer science: cache invalidation and naming things."

Attendees of the introductory/intermediate 75-minute session won't be learning anything about cache invalidation, but they will be learning about the importance of naming things and how to do it better, being promised to:

• Understand what makes variable naming difficult
• Recognize what makes a variable clear, concise, and consistent
• Explore variable naming patterns for almost any type of variable

We caught up with Braganza-Tacke to get a preview of her session, and to learn more about the importance of naming variables in software development.

VisualStudioLive!: What inspired you to present a session on naming variables?
Braganza-Tacke: I tend to talk about topics that I think every software developer should be knowledgeable about and variable naming is one of them. What really inspired me to put together a whole talk, though, was just how many bad variable names there are in real-world applications. x, usrdb, item, foo, test, blah ... these are real variable names I've encountered in production-grade codebases. And that's just scary! As with most of my talks, there's a lot of common software development sense that's not so common. That's why I'm putting my decade of experience, team-tested trials, and actionable advice together into one nice talk for anyone that wants to level up their variable naming!

What are some common challenges developers face when naming variables, and why is it often considered one of the harder tasks in computer science?
Typically, it's really hard to get the essence of a concept down to a single word or very short phrase; how do you convey a customer that has surpassed the maximum number of refund transactions allowed in a month as clearly and concisely as possible? Now, take that thought experiment and consider that different words mean different things to different people. The same words can even have different meanings or connotations within different contexts. Add onto that the global nature of software development, where English is not always the first language of the developer.

Taking all of this into consideration, developers are basically asked to choose variable names that convey a concept that is also explicitly clear to their team, can't be confused with other concepts, and makes sense within the context of the codebase they are working in. While it's definitely more of an art than an exact science, these challenges tend to make good variable naming a difficult task for developers.

In your view, what are the key characteristics that make a variable name clear, concise, and consistent? Could you provide an example of a well-named variable and explain why it's effective?
I'd answer, but I'd hate to spoil my talk 😉 Come listen to it at Visual Studio Live instead!

Can you share a before-and-after example where you improved a variable name and what your thought process and rationale were behind the change?
We actually go through a few examples in my talk where we improve it in real-time with the audience! In essence, we take a very vague, ambiguous and concept-void variable name and slowly iterate on it to become more concise, meaningful and context-filled.

What is one example guideline or best practice you would recommend for developers to follow when naming variables to ensure clarity and consistency?
When naming variables that are integers, be explicit! For example, say you're naming a variable that holds the amount of delay (in milliseconds) for a tooltip. Instead of tooltipDelay, a better name could be tooltipDelayInMilliseconds. When you're dealing with a number or count of something, say so! For example, if you have a variable that holds how many accounts are currently being requested, numberOfAccounts or numberOfRequestedAccounts is much more explicit than just accounts. Yes, the variable names are a bit longer. However, the cognitive load you remove for that extra effort to make them explicit can make a world of a difference when reading, re-reading and understanding code.

For developers who are just starting out, what strategies or exercises can they use to develop their skills in naming variables effectively? How can they get better at this seemingly simple yet complex task?
Go back to some code you've written in the past and see if there are variables that you can improve. Are there parts that you re-read or have trouble understanding? Would a more meaningful variable name help? If so, change those variables! Another thing you can do: Moving forward, resist the temptation to use "easy" variables. As you write code, take some time to think of a more meaningful variable name than temp, user, item, or other common concepts. Instead, consider the domain you are in, what the code is doing, and what concepts you are trying to convey. You can think of it as making your code a bit more wordy or verbose, but in reality, you're making it more readable and robust. And you're helping your future self when you have to re-read in a few months; you'll know exactly what you meant by being so explicit!

Note: Those wishing to attend the conference can save hundreds of dollars by registering early, according to the event's pricing page. "Register for VSLive! Chicago by the March 1 Super Early Bird deadline to save up to $400 and secure your seat for intensive developer training in Chicago!" said the organizer of the developer conference, which is presented by the parent company of Visual Studio Magazine.

Posted by David Ramel on 02/20/2024