Should "my" just be thrown into the middle of the code, where it's nearest to where the variable is needed

Absolutely yes! Always declare variables in the smallest possible scope. It makes the life time of the variable clearer and makes it easier to see initialisation. Both are very important for making the intent of code easer to understand.

"Prettiness" of the code is great for Poetry, but is generally not a large factor in understanding the code and at the end of the day that is what determines how easy it is to write the code correctly and debug it if there are errors.

On a related note, it is always worth spending the time to find a variable name that is "just right" because the time is really spent thinking about what the variable is for and how it fits the code. For trivial code the time spent is likely to be trivial, and for complicated code the extra time spent finding the right name is well justified. Later the time spent up front is likely to recouped many fold by saving time trying to figure out what the code is doing while validating the code or debugging it.

True laziness is hard work

In reply to Re^2: Is it ok to assign a popped value to a variable as shown. by GrandFather
in thread Is it ok to assign a popped value to a variable as shown. by perl514

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