Learn English – What type of verb is “do”

terminologyverbs

I'm going through some code with classes named like:

  • clean_Cache
  • purge_Stage
  • do_Keywords

The particular file do_Keywords is a complete mess and maybe if I knew what it was supposed to do then I could make sense of it. The dev who wrote it and used the verb "do" is absent, probably from someone beating him for his practices.

What is the term in English for verbs that don't provide any information, such as "do"? I'm looking to fill in the following sentence:

When naming classes, do not use ________ verbs. Use descriptive verbs.

If the term applies to all words, and not just to verbs, all the better. Thanks.

Best Answer

I think you're going about this the wrong way. Your goal is to help programmers choose more informative names for their classes, right? Let's suppose you discover that the term ambisignificant means "lacking a precise or informative meaning". That would be just the kind of term you were looking for. So you write your advice:

When naming classes, do not use ambisignificant words.

I hope you can see the problem with this approach. If you had to ask here for a word, what makes you think that your readers will understand that word?

It's better to describe what you want in your own words, and to use examples to make your meaning clear. For example,

When choosing names, use the most concrete and specific words you can. Avoid vague and ambiguous words.

Specific and clear: empty_cache, sort_contacts, resize_image

Vague and unclear: do_results, process_data, execute_work

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