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There are only two problems in computer science: we only have one joke, and it's gotten old.

There are 10 problems in computer science: we only have two jokes, and one of them is bad.

What about the other 14?

I don't like computer science jokes. Not one bit.

Oh no, you're off by one again! There's an even older one:

Q: Why can't programmers tell Christmas for Halloween?

A: Because OCT 31 = DEC 25.

After you fix a few cache invalidation bugs, you realize those problems are mostly about identity, and identity is just another form of naming things.

I think one problem with first problem is that names are not going to live forever just as the code. Lots of times code will be scrapped, a lot of times code will just run and no one will ever mind changing it.

So I’d say amount of time invested in naming won’t payback.

It’s very hard to change stuff that has grown beyond your control. Local variable names? Sure. API names? That’s a major version break. Correcting the “Referer” header? Unthinkable for 27 years and counting.