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February 5, 2005
Midnight at school, Rudy. Nooooo clazz.
I know I don't talk techie in these pages much, but this is working my last nerve.
At what point did it suddenly become fashionable in Java, when naming a variable of type Class, to spell it "clazz"?
I've been programming in Java since 1995, version 1.0prebeta1, and as Java has assumed the mantle of "the standard" programming language, it's been interesting to see programming style fads come and go, as subsequent generations of programmers who were weaned on the stuff come out of college and enter the workforce.
I'm not talking about technological improvements like Hibernate and Spring and XDoclet and all the other cool shit that makes life worth living.
I mean fashions. Like for instance, lately it's become the trend to declare private variables at the bottom of the class rather than at the top. Why? "It makes more sense that way." Horseshit. It's fashion. It doesn't make more "sense" that way any more than baggy jeans make more sense than 501s.
This new one, though, drives me nuts. Clazz? It's irritating, because if, like me, you tend to pronounce things in your head as you read them, you read this and your inner voice says "clazzzzzzzz" and it sounds like the guy who wrote the code you're reading was high and slurring his words.
I know why you have to do it. "class" is a reserved word in Java, and so this:
Class class = this.getClass();doesn't work. But this does:
Class cl = this.getClass();and it's worked perfectly fine for years. So why the change?
I googled the word, and it first shows up in around 2001 in Java-related postings in Italian. So that makes sense. (I'm guessing "clazz" is Italian for "class"?)
But now it's everywhere. It's all over Spring. It's in the JR*les sample code. It's making me crazy.
I propose that we up the ante, and go straight to "clazzizzle". Sex up the code a little, y'know?
That is all. Back to work. On a Saturday. As usual.
"Yo ho yo ho the startup life fer me..."
Posted by ray at February 5, 2005 1:11 PM | Permalink
Categories: [software | work ]
Comments
OK, I'm not an Italian expert, but my travel dictionary says "class" is "classe" (in both meanings, both as in a first class rail car, and also in a classroom or lesson). A "z" sneaks into "classificazione", but still not quite what you were looking for. -s
Posted by: sarah at February 5, 2005 9:27 PM
Dude. Did they forget your medication again?
Posted by: Karl Elvis at February 6, 2005 12:53 AM
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