Sheer laziness
While naming things isn’t hard, it does take a bit of thought. I guess some folks just don’t want to take the time to think about naming things. I’m not even going to talk about how silly it is to use a single letter for a variable name. The only exception I’ll quarter is using i as the variable in a loop. (But I’ll argue vehemently that Index is better.)
Otherwise, give a variable a really good, full name. Sure, it may take some effort, but if you stop and ask, “What, exactly, is this thing?” and then name it based on what your answer is, you’ll have a great name. For instance, if you feel the need to do this:
If (EmployeeNumber > 0) and (OrderNumber > 0) {
// ...
}
Don’t be afraid to go the extra mile:
EmployeeIsValid = EmployeeUniqueIDInDatabase > 0;
ThereIsAnOrder = OrderNumber > 0;
ItIsOkayToProcessTheOrder := EmployeeIsValid and ThereIsAnOrder;
If ItIsOkayToProcessTheOrder {
// ...
}
That is massively more readable, and the variable names clearly explain what they represent. It would be very hard to confuse what is happening there, and it reduces the cognitive load of the next developer, who no longer has to parse complex boolean statements.
