Naming things

Am I obsessing over naming things? Is it really that much of a difference if I say loc instead of location? For a local variable? In a ~10LOC method? Yes, it occupies a part of my brain, and it’s slightly annoying once you get used to having everything pretty, but is it worth nitpicking and deny someone a few saved keystrokes?

As I’m typing this, I have already realised what the answer is. Yes. Yes it is worth it. Because the writer only writes it once, but the reader reads it multiple times. Maybe hundreds of times. And every single time this small part of the reader’s brain is occupied with decoding the variables, what the cryptic name stands for and what the variable contains. Overtime, it adds to productivity loss. Greater than saving those keystrokes. Long term, it’s not worth it. Short term… If you’re coding for short term only, then you’re either lucky, or mistaken. Probably the latter.