The problem with very long "descriptive" method names is that over time, the actual work being done by the method may be altered, but the method name can't be changed because lots of other deployed code calls that method.
Suppose your code has a method like public void startUpAllServices throws ServiceException, and two years later the design changes such that there are "core" services, and "optional" services. The problem now is that all of the existing/deployed code uses this method to start up everything, and if one of the optional services fails to start (and throws a ServiceStartupException), then everything is toast. So the developers are forced to change this method to start only the "core" services (and mark the method as being deprecated) for backward compatibility.
Long method names are nice, until you're locked into a method name that no longer accurately matches its purpose. That's why Javadoc is a better tool for explaining what a method does. Give methods a "brief" name, and then Javadoc it. |
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