
Naming your variables properly
Always use meaningful names to store your variables. If you don't do that, 6 months down the line, you will be sad. I'm going to exaggerate here a bit to make a point. I will name a variable as shown in this code:
public bool areRoadConditionsPerfect = true;
That's a descriptive name. In other words, you know what it means by just reading the variable. So 10 years from now, when you look at that name, you'll know exactly what it means. Now suppose that instead of areRoadConditionsPerfect
, I had named this variable as shown in the following code:
public bool perfect = true;
Sure, you know what perfect is, but would you know that it refers to perfect road conditions? I know that right now you'll understand it because you just wrote it, but 6 months down the line, after writing hundreds of other scripts for all sorts of different projects, you'll look at this word and wonder what you meant. You'll have to read several lines of code you wrote to try to figure it out.
You may look at the code and wonder who in their right mind would write such terrible code. So, take your time to write descriptive code that even a stranger can look at and know what you mean. Believe me, in 6 months or probably less time, you will be that stranger.
Note
Using meaningful names for variables and methods is helpful not only for you but also for any other game developer who will be reading your code. Whether or not you work in a team, you should always write easy to read code.