Ask HN: Can somebody explain HackerRank naming conventions to me?
Hackerrank in contrast is written poorly. The questions are not formatted as nicely, which is the least important issue, but still an issue for quick comprehension of the problem. But what really drives me up the wall is their naming conventions for all of their problems. They use the most random and stupid input variables like n, c, k, m, x, a, b for all of their problems with seemingly no rhyme or reason. It makes trying to figure out what a problem is even asking for clearly and simply much harder and less fun than it should be.
1) Am I missing something obvious here? This is making me want to slam my head into a wall. Why would Hackerrank use a completely unclear mess of a naming system like this?
2) I'd be concerned about students learning bad coding practices from their examples. If you're naming variables with random names like c, q, l, m, z, t with no rhyme or reason, it makes code much more difficult to work with. This seems like an incredibly bad practice for the kind of site they are and the influence among younger programmers they might have.
0 comments
[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 11.6 ms ] threadNo comments yet.