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Actively scrutinise your names by asking yourself, “What other meanings could someone interpret from this name?” Example: Filter() Filter is an ambiguous word, it can either mean “to pick out”, or “to remove”. select() is better in the former case and exclude() in the latter. Example: Clip(text, length) Clip() clips the contents of the paragraph. But its unclear whether it: removes length from the end of the paragraph truncates to a maximum length.

Packing Information into Names Choose specific words def GetPage(url) doesn’t say much. Maybe FetchPage() or DownloadPage() is more specific? int Size() - is this size the height of an object, numbeer of elements or memory footprint? Maybe Height(), NumNodes() or MemoryBytes() is better. A thesaurus can be useful. send -> deliver, dispatch, announce, distribute, route find -> search, extract, locate, recover start -> launch, create, begin, open make -> create, set up, build, generate, compose, add, new

Code should be easy to understand. This is the most important guiding principle to use when deciding how to write code. Fundamental Theorem of Readability Code should be writted to minimise the time it would take for someone else to understand it. To understand the code means to be able to make changes to it, spot bugs and understand how it interacts and fits into the rest of the code.

“Simple and Practical Techniques for Writting Better Code” by Dustin Boswell and Trevor Foucher.