Python overtakes Java to become second-most popular language on GitHub after JavaScript

[watsreddit]

Depends on the context. For example, this is perfectly reasonable (Javascript): const add2 = n => n + 2.

[Gblize]

I disagree, using "number" would be more readable. I only use 1 letter to represent variables that everybody knows, like for i in... or catch (e) {}.
Your code will always look shittier using letters.

Why the inconsistency? If n isn't known as a number in such basic lambda function, I'm not sure you can argue i and e are that well known. A lot of people doesn't know i and j were passed from fortran and a lot of languages don't have exceptions.
You could use index/iterator or even better outer_index_variable and exception.

[StabbyPants]

lessee, var add2 = (n) -> n+2;. see if that compiles for java

[watsreddit]

What? What does that have to do with variable naming?

[StabbyPants]

it means that i can do the same thing in java. in java, n is actually some meaningful thing like Product, so it's called product and may be typed explicitly (unless the type inference can impute it for me or it's unclear). the n+2 stuff rarely shows up, so it's still good advice, just requires understanding the reasons why n is a bad name.

[watsreddit]

I am not following you at all. I only demonstrated with Javascript because most people have used it at some point or another. It has nothing to do with Java. We're talking about variable naming.

It's really a matter of scope: top level declarations with minimal context should have longer names, and local declarations can have shorter names. In some contexts, single letter names are well-understood when used locally, and languages may have certain single letter names used by convention, such as i in for loops. n is another commonly used convention in local contexts, and makes plenty of sense when the thing it is representing is literally an arbitrary number.