Use names you can search for and say aloud

How to do it

Write customerAddress, not cstmrAdr. Use single letters only for tiny loops or math. Give every repeated number or string a named constant, such as MAX_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS = 5.

Example

// Bad
if (tries > 5) lock(u);
// Good
const MAX_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS = 5;
if (failedLogins > MAX_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS) lockAccount(user);

# Bad
if tries > 5:
    lock(u)
# Good
MAX_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS = 5
if failed_logins > MAX_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS:
    lock_account(user)

How to check

A linter rejects short names and bare numbers, for example ESLint id-length with a minimum of 2 and no-magic-numbers, Pylint invalid-name, or PHPMD ShortVariable. Searching for a constant's name finds every place it is used.