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Why did no one tell me my variable names were the problem until a TA said something
Back in my first Python class at Mesa Community College, I named everything stuff like x, data2, and tempThing, and I figured that was just how it went. Then my TA, a guy named Devin, looked at my code for 30 seconds and asked me what 'data2' even meant, and I honestly could not tell him. It hit me that I had been writing code for myself in my head the whole time and never for anyone reading it later, including future me. How long did it take you all to start naming things like you actually cared?
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paulperez8d ago
My variable names for the first year were basically a cry for help. I had things called thing, thing2, newThing, and my personal favorite, stuff. Real descriptive work there. It took me way longer than I want to admit, probably a full year and a half, before it actually stuck. What finally did it was going back to old code after a few months and having zero clue what past me was doing. Nothing humbles you faster than your own work looking like a stranger wrote it. So the habit came from pure laziness, I got tired of re-reading my own mess.
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