• steventhedev@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Older C compilers would truncate a variable name if it was too long, so VeryLongGlobalConstantInsideALibraryInSeconds might accidentally collide with VeryLongGlobalConstantInsideALibraryInMinutes.

    Legend says that they used to do it after a single letter with Dennis declaring “26 variables ought to be enough for anyone”.