Rule Six | Declare data objects at the smallest possible level of scope. |
Rationale | This rule supports a basic principle of data-hiding. Clearly if an object is not in scope, its value cannot be referenced or corrupted. Similarly, if an erroneous value of an object has to be diagnosed, the fewer the number of statements where the value could have been assigned; the easier it is to diagnose the problem. The rule discourages the re-use of variables for multiple, incompatible purposes, which can complicate fault diagnosis. |
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