Re: Why (or not) use single letter variable names?
From: AngleWyrm (no_spam_anglewyrm_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 12/11/04
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Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 04:01:38 GMT
"Dan Piponi" <google01@sigfpe.com> wrote in message
news:1102708598.297725.119210@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Why do mathematicians use single letter variable names (even when their
> work is intended to be read by others) when programmers are typically
> taught to use descriptive variable names?
Programmers and Mathematicians have different objectives and uses for their
numbers.
Programmers are constructors of ideas; they are always turning things over,
adjusting, improving, changing their code. They use long names that describe the
purpose of the variable, so that it serves to communicate intent. Many variables
are created, used, and then disposed of throughout the course of a program. For
a programmer, the perfect variable is it's own description; it needs no
additional commentary, because it is self-illuminating.
Mathematicians are seekers of underlying truth; they search for a consolidated
expression, a timeless distillation of properties that describe a phenomenon.
They express their work in two parts: One is the epitome of elegance, the purity
of the smallest number of symbols required to state the situation. The other is
the documentation, wherein the variables are defined, elaborated on, proven. The
information is still present, but has been compressed in the symbols of the
formula, with extraction of meaning in the documentation.
-:|:-
AngleWyrm
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