Ask HN: Why should variable shadowing be allowed?
Today I came across a term I had not heard of before: variable shadowing.
The general opinion about variable shadowing is that it is frowned upon for code readability and comprehension.
What would be a use case for programming languages to allow variable shadowing? In java I like using variable shadowing in constructors, that is, I write something like:
I think this promotes clarity for the user of the code, although you can possibly make the mistake of writing public SomeObject(String aField) {
this.aField = aField;
}
but if you declare aField as final, the compiler will give you an error if you make that mistake. aField = aField;