#8. Define variables as close as possible to where they are used
Define variables as close as possible to their first use. Prefer variables with the most local scope as possible.
Inside a function body, at run time, a variable begins to exist once the code execution reaches the point where it is defined - not the point where it is only declared. (The Stack Overflow question What is the difference between a definition and a declaration? will help you understand the difference between a variable declaration and a variable definition. See the Answer by sbi.)
It benefits the readability of your code that you keep functions short and well structured. To achieve this, It is a key factor that every concept is limited to the exact scope where it belongs to. Define, initialize and use each variable exactly where it is needed, not any earlier. By following this simple guideline you will write code which is more readable, contains less defects, and is easier to debug.
Refactoring a function body is one of the most common tasks in software engineering. What was before in one function could be separated into several functions in the future. If you limit the scope of each variable to exactly the needed one, you will make this process much easier.
If you have seen code in which a variable of a certain type is reused inside the function body for two or three different things, just to save some bytes, please forget about it. Use each variable exactly once - don't define variables which are never used, and don't use the same variable for several different things.
A local variable has only the scope of the braces which contain it. Because of this, a function may contain some inner block of code in which you define a variable, say, int i = 0;. Later in the same function you may have a later block of code in which you will be allowed to create another variable with the same type and name: int i = 0;. These are different variables, which totally disjoint scopes. This is perfectly correct. However, prefer not doing it. It is error prone and it hurts readability to have two different variables with the same name so close to each other. In fact, "i" is not a very expressive name - you should be able to come up with better names for both variables, names which say more about their meaning.
Inside a function body, at run time, a variable begins to exist once the code execution reaches the point where it is defined - not the point where it is only declared. (The Stack Overflow question What is the difference between a definition and a declaration? will help you understand the difference between a variable declaration and a variable definition. See the Answer by sbi.)
It benefits the readability of your code that you keep functions short and well structured. To achieve this, It is a key factor that every concept is limited to the exact scope where it belongs to. Define, initialize and use each variable exactly where it is needed, not any earlier. By following this simple guideline you will write code which is more readable, contains less defects, and is easier to debug.
Refactoring a function body is one of the most common tasks in software engineering. What was before in one function could be separated into several functions in the future. If you limit the scope of each variable to exactly the needed one, you will make this process much easier.
If you have seen code in which a variable of a certain type is reused inside the function body for two or three different things, just to save some bytes, please forget about it. Use each variable exactly once - don't define variables which are never used, and don't use the same variable for several different things.
A local variable has only the scope of the braces which contain it. Because of this, a function may contain some inner block of code in which you define a variable, say, int i = 0;. Later in the same function you may have a later block of code in which you will be allowed to create another variable with the same type and name: int i = 0;. These are different variables, which totally disjoint scopes. This is perfectly correct. However, prefer not doing it. It is error prone and it hurts readability to have two different variables with the same name so close to each other. In fact, "i" is not a very expressive name - you should be able to come up with better names for both variables, names which say more about their meaning.
Bibliography
[McConnell 2004]
Steve McConnell: Code Complete, 2nd Edition, Microsoft Press, 2004.
This book discusses variable initialization in section 10.3: "Guidelines for initializing variables" (page 242). Scope is discussed in section 10.4: "Scope" (page 244). And the title of section 10.8 speaks for itself: "Using each variable for exactly one purpose" (page 255).
[Meyers 1998-1]
Scott Meyers: Effective C++: 50 specific ways to improve your programs and designs, 2nd Edition, Addison Wesley, 1998.
Meyers advises us to "Postpone variable definitions as long as possible" in Item 32 of this book (page 135).
[Sutter-Alexandrescu 2004]
Herb Sutter, Andrei Alexandrescu: C++ Coding Standards. 101 Rules, Guidelines and Best Practices, Addison Wesley, 2004.
The C++ Coding Standards suggested in this book include Item 18, "Declare variables as locally as possible" (page 35).
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