The effect of identifier naming on source code readability and quality
Simon Butler · 2009
Identifier names are natural language representations of program concepts in source code, which play an important role in program comprehension. Ill-considered, or poor quality, identifier names may hinder program comprehension, but is it possible they may also indicate problems in the source code, including bugs? We outline methods used to evaluate identifier quality, and propose the development of a more sophisticated understanding of identifier name quality, which will facilitate further exploration of the possible implications of poor quality identifier names.