My first microcomputer ran a BASIC. The variables in that BASIC were single letters like A, F, X, etc. or a single letter plus a single digit like A4, A7, G2, etc.
Coming back to a program that I had written several months previously was pointless, as I couldn't remember what all the variables were for, or what they did. It was just easier to completely rewrite a program, rather than maintain one.
My next language happened to be COBOL with its variables that could be given fully descriptive names like EMPLOYEE-HOURS-WORKED, ITERATION-COUNT, SALES-TAX-VALUE, etc. Variable names like that mean that I can look at programs that I wrote in the 1980s and immediately be able to maintain them. That habit of giving variables really descriptive names has remained with me for decades.
My first microcomputer ran a BASIC. The variables in that BASIC were single letters like A, F, X, etc. or a single letter plus a single digit like A4, A7, G2, etc.
Coming back to a program that I had written several months previously was pointless, as I couldn't remember what all the variables were for, or what they did. It was just easier to completely rewrite a program, rather than maintain one.
My next language happened to be COBOL with its variables that could be given fully descriptive names like EMPLOYEE-HOURS-WORKED, ITERATION-COUNT, SALES-TAX-VALUE, etc. Variable names like that mean that I can look at programs that I wrote in the 1980s and immediately be able to maintain them. That habit of giving variables really descriptive names has remained with me for decades.