[Phpmyadmin-devel] Maximum length of variable names

[Hugues Peccatte]

Hi,

2014/1/7 Chanaka Dharmarathna <pe.chanaka.ck at gmail.com>

>
>
>>>
>>>  >> I'm aware that I'm opening a can of worms, but can we discuss PHPMD
>>>> rules?
>>>> >
>>>> > I think those were never actually discussed, we just run then in
>>>> > Jenkins. So I think it's good idea to discuss coding style beyond
>>>> > indentation and whitespaces.
>>>> >
>>>> >> In particular, I find that to obey the maximum variable name (20
>>>> >> characters) rule, one has to sometimes abbreviate at the expanse of
>>>> clarity.
>>>> >
>>>> > I think this is quite connected to line length as well. In case you
>>>> > have longer variable names and stick with current line length, the
>>>> code
>>>> > will be a bit harder to read due to necessary wrapping, for example:
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> https://github.com/phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin/blob/master/libraries/browse_foreigners.lib.php#L152
>>>>
>>>
>>> I think the length of a variable name we should use is depend on
>>> variable scope and complexity of the code segment. Less complexity code
>>> segment may have shorten variable name while more complex code segment will
>>> have lengthy variable names. Same for the scope as well. I prefer to have
>>> bit lengthy variable since it will self describe the code even without the
>>> comments.
>>>
>>> In case we care on the length, we can use comments on a variable
>>> initializing point, which describe the shorten variable clearly. As well as
>>> using camel case naming convention will save us from additional underscores
>>> ($getEntryById < $get_entry_by_id)
>>>
>>> But as a standard we better have a limitation on the length of a
>>> variable name. But I think we better keep the limit more than 20 (what
>>> about 25 ?)
>>>
>>
>>  I agree. But is it possible to change the allowed length ?
>> Here we are talking about PMD (
>> http://ci.phpmyadmin.net/job/phpMyAdmin/910/pmdResult/type.811406648/),
>> so I believe that we can't…
>>
>
> Does that mean we must follow these PMD rules?
> Btw, I think customizing a PMD rule should be possible. Information in the
> documentation [0] will be useful for find that out.
> But I have no idea on how PMD works with Jenkins.
>

You're right, I never saw this before, but PMD could be personnalized !
http://pmd.sourceforge.net/pmd-5.0.5/howtomakearuleset.html
What a good news !

Would it be ok, in PMAStandard folder, to have a PMD and a PHPCS folders to
manage 2 ruleset.xml files ?


> I see two possibilities here:
>>
>>>  - abbreviate variable names (would make them even more difficult to
>>>> understand)
>>>> - improve the logic (I'll work on this case :)  )
>>>>
>>>> >
>>>> > Looking at current long variable names, I see following patterns:
>>>> >
>>>> > - pma prefix, is that really needed? [1]
>>>> No.
>>>>
>>>> >
>>>> > - return values from function called $something_somewhere_html, using
>>>> >   just $result might be even better to understand in this context [2]
>>>> Agreed, when it's inside a function.
>>>>
>>>> >
>>>> > - some variables still being used as globals, thus needing to provide
>>>> >   too much context in their names [3]
>>>> Usually a hint that this code segment needs refactoring.
>>>> >
>>>> > - some probably legitimate usages of long name [4]
>>>> Agreed.
>>>>
>>>> >
>>>> > [1]:
>>>> https://github.com/phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin/blob/master/view_create.php#L95
>>>> > [2]:
>>>> https://github.com/phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin/blob/master/libraries/DisplayResults.class.php#L5203
>>>> > [3]:
>>>> https://github.com/phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin/blob/master/libraries/mysql_charsets.inc.php#L17
>>>> > [4]:
>>>> https://github.com/phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin/blob/master/libraries/DisplayResults.class.php#L2779
>>>>
>>>
> [0] : http://pmd.sourceforge.net/pmd-5.0.5/howtowritearule.html
>
>
Hugues.
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