Naming things: the underrated skill

There's an old joke that the two hard problems in computing are cache invalidation and naming things. It's funny because naming really is hard, and getting it wrong has a cost that compounds across everyone who reads, uses, or maintains the thing.

Names are documentation

A well-named field, function, or process explains itself. A badly named one forces every person to stop, ask, or guess. Multiply that across a team and a few years, and clear naming is one of the cheapest forms of documentation there is.

What good names do

• Say what the thing is or does, without a comment.
• Stay consistent — the same concept has the same name everywhere.
• Avoid clever or insider terms that need explaining.
• Match the language the team actually uses for the concept.

A good name answers a question before anyone asks it. A bad one generates the question forever.