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Why is it important that your code is visually set apart from the rest of the language?



When someone, particularly a beginner, is reading the code and come across, say, an unfamiliar function name, then they know straight away whether to look for it in the language docs or a definition somewhere else in the code. Not essential, but handy.


I guess that only works for really simple project. Once you bring in third party libraries, your own common library, your own multiple layers of abstraction, this naming convention means almost nothing. It pays the price of annoying programmers who are already familiar with the code for not-so useful short term benefit of the very early beginner.


Surely there are better ways to deal with this problem. Different languages have different solutions for this, but completely breaking the naming conventions doesn't seem like the way to go.




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