Skip to main content

Meaningful Names - Code Review Checklist with Example

"Names are everywhere in software". "The hardest thing about choosing good names is that it requires good descriptive skills"[1]. In my previous post, I emphasized that we should take care our code, so now let's start with naming.

Issue
Original code
Revised code
Reveals nothing
int d; //elapsed time in days
int elapsedTimeInDays;
Difficult to understand
public List<Cell> getThem()

public List<Cell> getFlaggedCells()

Specific to programmers
accountList
accounts
Number-series
public void copyChars(char a1[], char a2[])
public void copyChars(char source[], char destination[])
Noise words (indistinguishable)
customerInfo vs customer;
accountData vs account
customer, account //distinguish names in such a way that the reader knows what the differences offer
Silly made-up words
class DtaRcrd02{
 private Date genymdhms;
}
class Customer{
 private Date generationTimestamp;
}
Poor name
for(int j=0 ;  j<34 ;  j++){
   s += (t[j]*4)/5;
}
int realDaysPerIdealDay = 4;
const int WORK_DAYS_PER_WEEK = 5;
const int NUMBER_OF_TASK = 34;
for(…)
Member prefixes
private String m_dsc; 
private String description;
Interfaces prefixes
IShapeFactory
ShapeFactory
Constructors with args
Complex point = new Complex(23.0)
Complex point = Complex.FromRealNumber(23.0)
//use static factory that describe the args
Form of colloquialisms or slang
eatMyShort()
abort()
Different methods name of different classes with same code base
fetch(), retrieve(), get()
get() //pick one word for one abstract concept and stick with it
Different class name in the same code base
Controller, manager, driver
Controller
The variable names are not clear when they are used alone in a method
street, houseNumber, city, state
//Solution 1: prefix addressStreet, addressHouseNumber, addressCity, addressState
//Solution 2: create a class Address

References:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

[Snippet] CSS - Child element overlap parent

I searched from somewhere and found that a lot of people says a basic concept for implementing this feature looks like below: HTML code: <div id="parent">  <div id="child">  </div> </div> And, CSS: #parent{   position: relative;   overflow:hidden; } #child{   position: absolute;   top: -1;   right: -1px; } However, I had a lot of grand-parents in my case and the above code didn't work. Therefore, I needed an alternative. I presumed that my app uses Boostrap and AngularJs, maybe some CSS from them affects mine. I didn't know exactly the problem, but I believed when all CSS is loaded into my browser, I could completely handle it. www.tom-collinson.com I tried to create an example to investigated this problem by Fiddle . Accidentally, I just changed: position: parent; to position: static; for one of parents -> the problem is solved. Look at my code: <div class="modal-body dn-placeholder-parent-position&quo

Only allow input number value with autoNumeric.js

autoNumeric is a jQuery plugin that automatically formats currency and numbers as you type on form inputs. I used autoNumeric 1.9.21 for demo code. 1. Dowload autoNumeric.js file from  https://github.com/BobKnothe/autoNumeric 2. Import to project <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.0/jquery.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/autoNumeric.js"></script> 3. Define a function to use it <script type="text/javascript"> /* only number is accepted */ function txtNumberOnly_Mask() { var inputOrgNumber = $("#numberTxt"); inputOrgNumber.each(function() { $(this).autoNumeric({ aSep : '', aDec: '.', vMin : '0.00' }); }); } </script> 4. Call the function by event <form> <input type="text" value="" id="numberTxt"/>(only number) </form> <script ty

Selenium - Override javascript functions to ignore downloading process

I have got an issue with downloading process on IE 8. This browser blocks my automatic-download functionality on my app so that I could not work with my test case any more after that. In my case, I didn't care about the file is downloaded or not, I just focus on the result after downloading process finished successfully. Therefore, I found a solution to ignore this process so that I can work normally. I use Primefaces, here is the remote command to trigger the download process <p:remoteCommand name="cmdGenerateDocument" actionListener="#{logic.onGenerateDocument}" update="xrflDocumentCreationPanel" oncomplete="clickDownloadButton();"/> The following is my test case: @Test public void shouldUpdateStep6ToWarningIfStep1IsValidAfterFinished(){ MainPage mainPage = new MainPage(); waitForLoading(mainPage.getDriver()); EmployeeDetailPage empDetailPage = new EmployeeDetailPage(); waitForLoading(empDetailPage.getDriver()); e

Just another career path

As a software engineer, I recently have heard of a lot of feedback from my colleagues and friends that they don’t see their career path or they don’t know how to move to the new levels in their company. No exception, I used to have that thinking before.  In my opinion, there is a very important reason why people are struggling to find the answer because “career path is not always the job titles”. Normally, each company has its own job titles such as junior-level developer, middle-level developer, senior-level developer, teach lead, software architect, CTO, etc. Hence, it is not true that a job title is reasonable for every company. The interview is often conducted hardly to find a candidate matching the company title. If we have a good enough job title standard, the interview would take place very easily, right? Therefore, I prefer to define my own career path through what skills are gained under a job title. But wait, why do I need a career path? To me, a career is an indispensable pa

How to convert time between timezone in Java, Primefaces?

I use the calendar Primefaces component with timeOnly and timeZone attributes for using only hour format (HH:mm). Like this: <p:calendar id="xabsOvertimeTimeFrom" pattern="HH:mm" timeOnly="true" value="#{data.dateFrom}" timeZone="#{data.timeZone}"/> We can convert the value of #{data.dateFrom} from GMT/UTC time zone to local, conversely, from local time zone to GMT/UTC time zone. Here is my functions: package vn.nvanhuong.timezoneconverter; import java.text.ParseException; import java.text.SimpleDateFormat; import java.util.Calendar; import java.util.Date; import java.util.TimeZone; public class TimeZoneConverter { /** * convert a date with hour format (HH:mm) from local time zone to UTC time zone */ public static Date convertHourToUTCTimeZone(Date inputDate) throws ParseException { if(inputDate == null){ return null; } Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance(); calendar.setTime(inputDate); int