<!-- mobian-agent-page publisher="dailydev" canonical="https://daily.dev/posts/naming-if-you-have-to-open-the-body-the-name-isn-t-done-vwxtqx0sn" -->

---
title: Naming: if you have to open the body, the name isn&#x27;t done
description: A code review heuristic for naming: if you can&#x27;t state what a function does from its name and parameters alone in one sentence, either the name is wrong or the...
canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/naming-if-you-have-to-open-the-body-the-name-isn-t-done-vwxtqx0sn
twitter:card: summary_large_image
twitter:site: @dailydotdev
og:type: website
og:site_name: daily.dev
og:title: Naming: if you have to open the body, the name isn&#x27;t done | daily.dev
og:description: A code review heuristic for naming: if you can&#x27;t state what a function does from its name and parameters alone in one sentence, either the name is wrong or the...
og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/naming-if-you-have-to-open-the-body-the-name-isn-t-done-vwxtqx0sn
og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/vWXTqX0sn.png
og:image:alt: Naming: if you have to open the body, the name isn&#x27;t done
og:image:width: 1200
og:image:height: 630
og:locale: en
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Naming: if you have to open the body, the name isn't done

**[Adam](https://daily.dev/sources/nji2zhyhnijgoxeg0gj5j)** · [@nark3d](https://daily.dev/nark3d) · 1 min read · 9 upvotes · 1 comments

## Summary

A code review heuristic for naming: if you can't state what a function does from its name and parameters alone in one sentence, either the name is wrong or the function is doing two jobs (usually the latter). The author argues this needs to become an explicit rule now because AI coding agents tend to abbreviate names out of habit, so relying on developer intuition or preference is no longer sufficient.

## Content

Everyone agrees naming matters and almost nobody spends time on it. My review check is to say in one sentence what a function does from its name and parameters alone. If I can't, the name's bad or the function is doing two jobs, and it's usually the second. Agents abbreviate out of habit, so this needs a rule now rather than a preference.

https://prickles.org/tenet/intention-revealing-names/F2

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@agustinbarrientos** · 0 upvotes

> Good test of whether `load(id)` stays opaque even when the verb sounds precise

---

Tags: [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#code-review](https://daily.dev/tags/code-review)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/naming-if-you-have-to-open-the-body-the-name-isn-t-done-vwxtqx0sn)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/naming-if-you-have-to-open-the-body-the-name-isn-t-done-vwxtqx0sn","headline":"Naming: if you have to open the body, the name isn't done","text":"A code review heuristic for naming: if you can't state what a function does from its name and parameters alone in one sentence, either the name is wrong or the function is doing two jobs (usually the latter). The author argues this needs to become an explicit rule now because AI coding agents tend to abbreviate names out of habit, so relying on developer intuition or preference is no longer sufficient.","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/naming-if-you-have-to-open-the-body-the-name-isn-t-done-vwxtqx0sn","datePublished":"2026-09-02T10:52:22.144Z","dateModified":"2026-09-02T10:52:34.057Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Adam","url":"https://daily.dev/nark3d","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/2162621?v=4","description":"Product Engineer/Architect, author of https://prickles.org","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":660}},"interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":9},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}],"comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Good test of whether load(id) stays opaque even when the verb sounds precise","datePublished":"2026-09-03T22:42:54.616Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/vWXTqX0sn#c-7SttnJTf4","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Agustin Barrientos","url":"https://daily.dev/agustinbarrientos","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--5ayxQnqn--/f_auto/v1788281802/avatars/avatar_wQYYVe5Tbj0NJ7C7qPoa8?_a=BAMAMicg0"}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/nji2zhyhnijgoxeg0gj5j","name":"Adam"}}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Adam","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/nji2zhyhnijgoxeg0gj5j"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Naming: if you have to open the body, the name isn't done"}]}
```

