Technovangelism

In the first chapter of every beginner’s Java book, the reader is introduced to code like this:

public class MyClass {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello world!");
    }
}

Its simplicity is important to not discourage the reader and its brevity allows for quick and continuous enhancement. But within the first line, it has started the reader down the wrong path in what is considerably more important long term.

Later, a code snippet like the following might be used to explain some features in greater detail:

MyClass myObject = new MyClass();
myObject.myMethod();

Again, the deterioration of good programming skills has started before those skills were allowed to develop.

Why are beginners taught these bad habits when it is just as easy to teach with proper programming styles? The use of the prefix “my” does not provide any insight to what that class/object/method actually does. Despite the difficulty of naming things, it is far better to demonstrate good programming practices and have a 90% intuitive name, than to have a name that is simple but meaningless.

Java is the most notorious for this, but other languages are equally guilty. If you are writing a tutorial somewhere, especially if it is for beginners, take extra care to ensure your code is portraying proper style, so first-time programmers will not have to dig themselves out of any deeper of a hole.