--- title: Stop Using "data" as a Variable Name | daily.dev description: Clear naming provides important context whenever someone needs to quickly understand code. These prefixes aren't universal, but they are great to establish a... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/stop-using-data-as-a-variable-name-4k4fug3as twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Stop Using "data" as a Variable Name | daily.dev og:description: Clear naming provides important context whenever someone needs to quickly understand code. These prefixes aren't universal, but they are great to establish a... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/stop-using-data-as-a-variable-name-4k4fug3as og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/4k4FuG3aS.png og:image:alt: Stop Using "data" as a Variable Name 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. # Stop Using "data" as a Variable Name **[DEV](https://daily.dev/sources/devto)** · [@dcwither](https://daily.dev/dcwither) · 4 min read · 72 upvotes · 8 comments ## Summary Clear naming provides important context whenever someone needs to quickly understand code. These prefixes aren't universal, but they are great to establish a shared language within your team. Using them consistently throughout your codebase can make reading comprehension easier. Any convention that becomes a standard in your team can help with readability. Make sure to document these in the project README or wiki. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@ritabradley\_dev** · 3 upvotes > I liked the suggestion for different naming conventions. I'm going to start implementing them in my daily workflow. **@rfornal** · 1 upvotes > I will have to admit that I've named things `data` when I felt it was appropriate. Might have to go back and look at some refactoring. > > > Excellent article on the basics of naming! **@thatgriffith** · 1 upvotes > Great reading. Will add this to the company's ways of working. **@rakia** · 1 upvotes > An interesting subject **@arklev** · 1 upvotes > Good article and very important if you work in teams or on some big project. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#general-programming](https://daily.dev/tags/general-programming) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/stop-using-data-as-a-variable-name-4k4fug3as) ```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":"TechArticle","headline":"Stop Using \"data\" as a Variable Name","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/stop-using-data-as-a-variable-name-4k4fug3as","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/stop-using-data-as-a-variable-name-4k4fug3as"},"datePublished":"2020-11-29T16:25:07.474Z","dateModified":"2021-10-07T14:17:10.317Z","description":"Clear naming provides important context whenever someone needs to quickly understand code. 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I’m going to start implementing them in my daily workflow.","datePublished":"2020-11-29T19:35:49.113Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4k4FuG3aS#c-yn-RpZ3T5","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Rita Bradley","url":"https://daily.dev/ritabradley_dev","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--lyhGS4EK--/f_auto/v1713030853/avatars/avatar_01765029d0e3459faf22881069233256"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I will have to admit that I’ve named things data when I felt it was appropriate. Might have to go back and look at some refactoring.\nExcellent article on the basics of naming!","datePublished":"2020-11-29T21:10:07.156Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4k4FuG3aS#c-OR8ClGYWq","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Bob Fornal","url":"https://daily.dev/rfornal","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/AOh14Gj2w_EqKb5Jlbize6-gm6oXVU1CV3KM2mEuTrAhCQ=s100"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Great reading. Will add this to the company’s ways of working.","datePublished":"2020-11-30T10:35:26.556Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4k4FuG3aS#c-Bk4Wto_ir","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin H Griffith","url":"https://daily.dev/thatgriffith","image":"https://avatars2.githubusercontent.com/u/10831463?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"An interesting subject","datePublished":"2020-12-02T13:55:32.914Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4k4FuG3aS#c-uGn1YilTc","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Rakia Ben Sassi","url":"https://daily.dev/rakia","image":"https://avatars1.githubusercontent.com/u/1866918?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Good article and very important if you work in teams or on some big project.","datePublished":"2020-11-30T08:23:55.107Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4k4FuG3aS#c-ZrILty5Nl","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Arkady Levin","url":"https://daily.dev/arklev","image":"https://avatars0.githubusercontent.com/u/12517285?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}}]} ```