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Do variable names matter for AI code completion? (2025)
Variable Names Matter for AI Code Completion? When GitHub Copilot suggests your next line of code, does it matter whether your variables are named current_temperature or just x? I ran an experiment to find out, testing 8 different AI models on 500 Python code samples across 7 naming styles. The results suggest that descriptive variable names do help AI code completion.
I ran an experiment to find out, testing 8 different AI models on 500 Python code samples across 7 naming styles. Descriptive names use 41% more tokens but achieve 8.9% better semantic performance, suggesting AI models prioritize clarity over compression. This aligns with existing guidance for human readability - it turns out clear names benefit AI systems too.
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