Avoiding $a and $b in perl is particularly good advice (due to the overlap with the sort magic variables).

But it's also a good idea to avoid them since they aren't meaningful names. I think one of the most important parts of writing code is choosing good names for variables (and functions, and all name-able things). I don't mean needlessly long names, but appropriate names (name length should in general be loosely proportional to variable scope - if that gives you long names you want smaller scope for your variables).

Yes, you have to stop and think about a good name, but it makes the code much more readable. Compare: $page->render(); with $tmp->do_it().

It's also important to change names if you change the code, so they stay accurate. (e.g. change a variable from $employee to $person if you make a routine more general).

In reply to Re: Using $a and $b for sort by jbert
in thread Using $a and $b for sort by Antony Lewis

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.