Sunday 2019-03-10

Apparently, simplified naming is again a thing for programmers -- i.e. use less jargon and instead use nouns and verbs that make sense to people who do not know the problem domain.

The best case for this argument is when the jargon is inexact and nebulous. When jargon-speakers disagree over what they mean, writing code forces that fight into the foreground. Given the potential fallout, standardizing on a new simplified language may be politically expedient.

When that's not the case, using the language found in the corpus of domain knowledge allows developers to speak more easily with domain experts: your functions, objects, and methods are more likely to be immediately comprehended by people who live in the domain. And when programming efforts are more intelligible, people are more likely to speak up when they don't understand something.

Finally, using technical jargon helps limit unexpected interactions. Not using domain-specific language is like working in physics and using feet and pounds... before you know it, you've flown a spacecraft into Mars.