worst variable name

[Skaperen]

Why Would data be a "bad" variable name?

i guess it depends on the context. in a small function where unknown data is being passed along or buffered with no concern of what is in it and it is the only instance of data, then it is probably ok.  in a big application with lots of data in lots of variables, it can be confusing.

[Ofnuts]

FIVE. Because somewhere someone did FIVE=8

[Skaperen]

FIVE. Because somewhere someone did FIVE=8

or true=False ... seen it.

[agrajax]

Once worked with a guy who thought it was clever to use O0 as a variable.

[wavic]

You could use o_O :D

[ichabod801]

Once worked with a guy who thought it was clever to use O0 as a variable.

My boss once worked at a place where they'd pissed off the previous coder, and he did a global replace of all zeros with ohs, and had to go back through and figure out which was supposed to be which.

[nilamo]

Did they not use version control? A simple revert to a specific version would have undone all of that.

[ichabod801]

Nope, no version control. We don't use version control at work. I've never seen statisticians use version control for their work.

[nilamo]

And all the code is in a shared place? You guys don't each have a copy of it on your local machines?

You really should look into something. git is super easy to setup, and could make situations like that a <5 minute problem.

[micseydel]

How do you get someone else's changes? You just never have multiple people write to the same file?