Naming Operations rather than Variables

siiky

2021/12/15

2022/07/07

en

Naming, using, reading, and understanding well named operations rather than (kinda) well named variables grows the habit of reading and understanding code rather than relying on variables being well named -- and everyone knows naming is hard.

Bad:

x = '42'
x_food = foo(x)
x_bard_food = bar(x_food)
x_zazd_bard_food = zaz(x_bard_food)

Good (using procedural composition):

x = zaz(bar(foo('42')))

Better (if the chain of operations is long):

x = '42'
x = foo(x)
x = bar(x)
x = zaz(x)

Best (using functional composition):

(=> '42'
    foo
    bar
    zaz)

; OR

((-> foo bar zaz) '42')

It also comes with rather nice advantages. Just compare the two approaches in each scenario:

• Imagine you want to change the order of operations in the chain;
• Imagine you want to add an operation to the chain;
• Imagine you want to remove an operation from the chain.

And a final bonus: the "better" approach is easier to read than the "bad" approach, and requires less typing, thank you very much.