Part of the problem with more 'realistic' variable names is that some people will fixate on the names and fail to notice the general principal. For example
def has_min_elements?(foo, bar) foo.size >= bar end might be harder to read for someone new but def bookshelf_has_at_least(bookshelf, number_of_books) bookshelf.size > number_of_books end will have some people thinking about bookshelves and completely missing the fact that 'bookshelf' is an arbitrary name for an instance of an Array or Hash (possibly a String even). I used to teach Prolog and the unlearning that had to take place after they wrote their first family tree program because the predicates had names like isa, parent and grandparent was a constant impediment. They understood the program very quickly but completely failed to understand Prolog. I ended up having to do search and replace on predicate and variable names to turn them into gibberish just to show them that the predicate and variable names had nothing to do with the how the program worked. Learning means getting out of your comfort zone. Besides Foo, Bar and Baz (along with xyzzy and plover) have a long and distinguished history. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en.
