Much of the skill in writing unmaintainable code is the art of naming variables and
methods. They don’t matter at all to the compiler. That gives you huge latitude to
use them to befuddle the maintenance programmer.
New Uses For Names For Baby
:
Book referral for 20,001 Names For Baby
 |
recommend book⇒20,001 Names For Baby |
| by |
Carol McD. Wallace |
978-0-380-78047-1 |
paperback |
|---|
| publisher |
Harper |
|---|
| published |
1995-05-01 |
|---|
|
| Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock. Try looking for it with a bookfinder. |
Buy a copy of a baby naming book and you’ll never
be at a loss for variable names. Fred is a wonderful name and easy to type. If
you’re looking for easy-to-type variable names, try adsf or aoeu if you type with a DSK keyboard.Single Letter Variable Names
: If you call your variables a, b, c, then it
will be impossible to search for instances of them using a simple text editor.
Further, nobody will be able to guess what they are for. If anyone even hints at
breaking the tradition honoured since FØRTRAN of using i, j and k for
indexing variables, namely replacing them with ii, jj and kk, warn them about what
the Spanish Inquisition did to heretics.Creative Miss-spelling
: If you must use descriptive variable and function
names, misspell them. By misspelling in some function and variable names and
spelling it correctly in others (such as SetPintleOpening SetPintalClosing) we
effectively negate the use of grep or IDE (Integrated Development Environment)
search techniques. It works amazingly well. Add an international flavor by spelling
tory or tori in different theatres/theaters.Be Abstract
: In naming functions and variables, make heavy use of abstract
words like it, everything, data, handle,
stuff, do, routine, perform and the digits e.g.
routineX48, PerformDataFunction,
DoIt, HandleStuff and
do_args_method.A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.S.
Use acronyms to keep the code terse. Real men never define
acronyms; they understand them genetically. If you confuse even yourself with
acronymns, secretly write code using meaningful names, then, when the code in
working, use the global rename feature of Eclipse to give your variables and methods
unintelligible names and acronyms, just the way a mechanical obfuscator would.Thesaurus Surrogatisation
To break the boredom, use a thesaurus to look up as
much alternate vocabulary as possible to refer to the same action, e.g.
display, show, present. Vaguely hint there is some subtle
difference, where none exists. However, if there are two similar functions that have
a crucial difference, always use the same word in describing both functions (e.g.
print to mean write to a file, put ink on paper and display on the
screen).Eschew the Project Glossary
Under no circumstances, succumb to demands to
write a glossary with the special purpose project vocabulary unambiguously defined.
Doing so would be an unprofessional breach of the structured design principle of
information hiding. If you are forced to write such a vocabulary, use
recursive definitions such as this one taken from the Ant 1.6.5 manual: basedir : the absolute path of the project’s
basedir (as set with the basedir attribute of <project>). The reader
still has no idea what the basedir is, though he has been given the clue it is
absolute even though all examples show it with . (which,
incidentally, is relative).
Wear your adversary down by tantalising, pretending to give information where
there is really none. Disguise your vacuous statements sufficiently so the reader
will blame himself for failing to understand.
The reader asks himself, if I am trying to compile the com.mindprod.holidays package, is basedir C:\, C:\com\, J:\com\mindprod\
or J:\com\mindprod\holidays\
? You see why you should never use concrete examples? They are too clear. If you are
forced to use them, complain that they sound childish and unprofessional. Complain
that examples make it look as if that is all the product can do. You
want people to appreciate fully every possible variation from the get go. You are not
trying to inform, but impress! After all, no academic would be caught dead giving an
example. People only respect that which is too abstract to grasp easily.
That’s a lot to remember. You will do just fine if all you do when writing
documentation is maintain the attitude that people who don’t already know this
jargon are stupid fools who don’t deserve to understand.
Use Plural Forms From Other Languages
A VAX/VMS (Virtual Address Extension/Virtual Memory System)
script kept track of the statii returned from various
Vaxen. Esperanto, Klingon
qualifies as
languages for these purposes. For pseudo-Esperanto pluraloj, add oj. You will be
doing your part toward world peace.CapiTaliSaTion
Randomly capitalize the first letter of a syllable in the
middle of a word. For example: ComputeRasterHistoGram().Reuse Names
Wherever the rules of the language permit, give classes,
constructors, methods, member variables, parameters and local variables the same
names. For extra points, reuse local variable names inside {} blocks. The goal is to
force the maintenance programmer to carefully examine the scope of every instance. In particular, in Java, make ordinary methods masquerade as constructors.Åccented Letters
Use accented characters on variable names, e. g.
typedef struct { int i; } ínt;
where the second ínt’s í is actually i-acute. With only a
simple text editor, it’s nearly impossible to distinguish the slant of the
accent mark.Exploit Compiler Name Length Limits
If the compiler will only distinguish the
first, say, 8 characters of names, then vary the endings e.g.
var_unit_update() in one case and var_unit_setup() in another. The
compiler will treat both as var_unit.Underscore, a Friend Indeed
Use _ and __ as identifiers.Mix Languages
Randomly intersperse two languages (human or computer). If your
boss insists you use his language, tell him you can organise your thoughts better in
your own language, or, if that does not work, allege linguistic discrimination and
threaten to sue your employers for a vast sum.Extended ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
Extended ASCII
characters are perfectly valid as variable names, including ß, Ð and
ñ characters. They are almost impossible to type without copying/pasting in a
simple text editor.Names From Other Languages
Use foreign language dictionaries as a source for
variable names. For example, use the German punkt for point.
Maintenance coders, without your firm grasp of German, will enjoy the multicultural
experience of deciphering the meaning.Names From Mathematics
Choose variable names that masquerade as mathematical
operators, e.g.: openParen = ( slash + asterix ) / equals;
Bedazzling Names
Choose variable names with irrelevant emotional connotation,
e. g.: marypoppins = ( superman + starship ) / god;
This confuses the reader because they have difficulty disassociating the emotional
connotations of the words from the logic they’re trying to think about.Rename and Reuse
This trick works especially well in Ada, a language immune
to many of the standard obfuscation techniques. The people who originally named all
the objects and packages you use were morons. Rather than try to convince them to
change, just use renames and subtypes to rename everything to names of your own
devising. Make sure to leave a few references to the old names in, as a trap for the
unwary.When To Use i
Never use i for the innermost loop
variable. Use anything but. Use i liberally for any other
purpose especially for non-int variables. Similarly use n
as a loop index.Conventions Schmentions
Ignore Oracle’s coding conventions, after all, Sun does. Fortunately, the compiler won’t
tattle when you violate them. The goal is to come up with names that differ subtlely
only in case. If you are forced to use the capitalisation conventions, you can still
subvert wherever the choice is ambigous, e.g. use both
inputFilename and inputfileName. Invent your
own hopelessly complex naming conventions, then berate everyone else for not
following them.Lower Case l Looks a Lot Like the Digit 1
Use lower case l to indicate long
constants, e. g. 10l is more likely to be mistaken for 101 that 10L is. Ban any fonts
that clearly
disambiguate uvw wW gq9 2z 5s il17|!j oO08 `'" ;:,. m nn rn {[()]}. Be
creative.Reuse of Global Names as Private
Declare a global array in module A and a
private one of the same name in the header file for module B, so that it appears that
it’s the global array you are using in module B, but it isn’t. Make no
reference in the comments to this duplication.Recycling Revisited
Use scoping as confusingly as possible by recycling
variable names in contradictory ways. For example, suppose you have global variables
A and B and functions foo and bar. If you know that variable A will be regularly
passed to foo and B to bar, make sure to define the functions as function foo(B) and
function bar(A) so that inside the functions A will always be referred to as B and
vice versa. With more functions and globals, you can create vast confusing webs of
mutually contradictory uses of the same names.Recycle Your Variables
Wherever scope rules permit, reuse existing unrelated
variable names. Similarly, use the same temporary variable for two unrelated purposes
(purporting to save stack slots). For a fiendish variant, morph the variable, for
example, assign a value to a variable at the top of a very long method and then
somewhere in the middle, change the meaning of the variable in a subtle way, such as
converting it from a 0-based coordinate to a 1-based coordinate. Be certain not to
document this change in meaning.Cd wrttn wtht vwls s mch trsr
When using abbreviations inside variable or
method names, break the boredom with several variants for the same word and even
spell it out longhand once in while. This helps defeat those lazy bums who use text
search to understand only some aspect of your program. Consider variant spellings as
a variant on the ploy, e.g. mixing International colour, with American
color and dude-speak kulerz. If you spell out names in full, there
is only one possible way to spell each name. These are too easy for the maintenance
programmer to remember. Because there are so many different ways to abbreviate a
word, with abbreviations, you can have several different variables that all have the
same apparent purpose. As an added bonus, the maintenance programmer might not even
notice they are separate variables.Misleading names
Make sure that every method does a little bit more (or less)
than its name suggests. As a simple example, a method named isValid(x) should as a side effect convert x to binary and store the
result in a database.m_
a naming convention from the world of C++ is the use of m_ in front of
members. This is supposed to help you tell them apart from methods, so long as you
forget that method also starts with the letter
m.o_apple obj_apple
Use an o or obj prefix for each instance of the class to show that you’re
thinking of the big, polymorphic picture.Hungarian Notation
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of
source code obfuscation techniques; use it! Due to the sheer volume of source code
contaminated by this idiom nothing can kill a maintenance engineer faster than a well
planned Hungarian Notation attack. The following tips will help you corrupt the
original intent of Hungarian Notation:
- Insist on using c for const in C++ and other languages that directly enforce the const-ness
of a variable.
- Seek out and use Hungarian warts that have meaning in languages other than your
current language. For example insist on the PowerBuilder l_ and a_ {local and argument} scoping
prefixes and always use the VB-esque style of having a Hungarian wart for every
control type when coding to C++. Try to stay
ignorant of the fact that megs of plainly visible MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes)
source code does not use Hungarian warts for control types.
- Always violate the Hungarian principle that the most commonly used variables
should carry the least extra information around with them. Achieve this end through
the techniques outlined above and by insisting that each class type have a custom
wart prefix. Never allow anyone to remind you that no wart tells
you that something is a class. The importance of this rule cannot
be overstated: if you fail to adhere to its principles the source code may become
flooded with shorter variable names that have a higher vowel/consonant ratio. In
the worst case scenario this can lead to a full collapse of obfuscation and the
spontaneous reappearance of English Notation in code!
- Flagrantly violate the Hungarian-esque concept that function parameters and
other high visibility symbols must be given meaningful names, but that Hungarian
type warts all by themselves make excellent temporary variable names.
- Insist on carrying outright orthogonal information in your Hungarian warts.
Consider this real world example: a_crszkvc30LastNameCol. It took a team of maintenance engineers
nearly 3 days to figure out that this whopper variable
name described a const, reference, function argument that was holding information
from a database column of type Varchar[30] named LastName which was part of the table’s primary key. When
properly combined with the principle that "all variables should be
public" this technique has the power to render thousands of lines of source
code obsolete instantly!
- Use to your advantage the principle that the human brain can only hold 7 pieces
of information concurrently. For example code written to the above standard has the
following properties:
- a single assignment statement carries 14 pieces of type and name
information.
- a single function call that passes three parameters and assigns a result
carries 29 pieces of type and name information.
- Seek to improve this excellent, but far too concise, standard. Impress
management and coworkers by recommending a 5 letter day of the week prefix to
help isolate code written on 'Monam' and 'FriPM'.
- It is easy to overwhelm the short term memory with even a moderately
complex nesting structure, especially when the maintenance
programmer can’t see the start and end of each block on screen
simultaneously.
Hungarian Notation Revisited
One followon trick in the Hungarian notation is
"change the type of a variable but leave the variable name unchanged". This
is almost invariably done in windows apps with the migration from Win16 :-
WndProc(HWND hW, WORD wMsg, WORD wParam, LONG lParam) to Win32 WndProc(HWND hW, UINT
wMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) where the w values hint that they are words, but
they really refer to longs. The real value of this approach comes clear with the
Win64 migration, when the parameters will be 64 bits wide,
but the old w and l prefixes
will remain forever.Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
If you have to define a structure to hold data for
callbacks, always call the structure PRIVDATA. Every module can define it’s own
PRIVDATA. In VC++, this has the advantage of confusing the debugger so that if you
have a PRIVDATA variable and try to expand it in the watch window, it doesn’t
know which PRIVDATA you mean, so it just picks one.Obscure film references
Use constant names like LancelotsFavouriteColour instead of blue and assign
it hex value of 0x0204FB. The color looks identical to pure blue on the screen and a
maintenance programmer would have to work out 0204FB (or use some graphic tool) to
know what it looks like. Only someone intimately familiar with Monty Python and the
Holy Grail would know that Lancelot’s favorite color was blue. If a maintenance
programmer can’t quote entire Monty Python movies from memory, he or she has
no business being a programmer.Fun With Colours
It goes without saying you should use numeric colour
literals rather than named constants. Unfortunately, most skilled maintenance
engineers will have learnt by now that hex coded colour values are easy to decode, e.
g. 0x0204FB is
Red = 02
Green = 04
Blue = FB
Which is clearly pretty much entirely blue.
You want is to use the decimal value, 132347. There’s no way without the aid of paper or a
calculator that any normal person could convert that into the colour 'blue'.
For extra bonus points you can produce a decimal colour that looks like it’s
expressed as hex, for example 808000. A quick glance
would guess half red + half green = darkish yellow, but in fact it’s not hex,
the real colour is 0xc5440 (a dark cyan).
The Netscape colours are all
carefully named. For example papayawhip is 0xffefd5.
Just to keep them on their toes, define a papayawhip colour constant as 0xff00ff, a garish magenta. Have fun making up obscure colour names
like algae = 0x556b2f instead of darkolivegreen. Very
few people know what colour puce and teal are, but would never admit it. Exploit
that.
You can even lay a trap for a programmer who comes after you to do the dirty deed.
Use accurately-named but hideous colours. If the follow-up programer is lazy, he will
change the colour definitions to something sane, but will leave your original colour
names.
