Question

Sometimes it is difficult to invent short and accurate name for a method or variable that is clear on the first glance. Abbreviations are not recommended today. But, for instance, if we use

• src and dest in function params, it is contextually clear what they mean
• i often means index: for(int i=0; i<size; i++).

Are there any other abbreviations like these used in more than one language?

Answer 1

There are a lot of abbreviations that are common and generally understood (“args”, “i18n”, “HTTP”, …).

I’m not sure if I get your question right, less that there is a good answer to it. A good abbreviation is short (dooh) and easily understood by the readers. So the choice of an abbreviation depends on audience; what is obvious for a particle physicist might seem far fetched for a finance analytic or a games developer.

Maybe, the misleading word is abbreviation. The choice of a good abbreviation is the same problem of naming things in general (which is known as one of the two hard things in computer science). Readability is more important than conciseness.

Conclusion: if you know your audience (and your problem domain of course), you should be able to find understandable (and not too long) namings.

[Update]

Robert Martin wrote a whole 14-page chapter on “Meaningful Names” in his book on Clean Code, which for me is a Must-Read for every serious developer.