> Computers parse identifiers, so a good variable name is telling the computer _something_ at least, and so is vastly preferrable to comments.
I realize you're trying to explain a way of thinking that you don't actually share—but this doesn't make sense to me either.
Computers parse identifiers in only the simplest sense—they care if two identifiers are identical to each other or different. So, any identifier longer than one or two characters is in some sense a comment, because everything longer the minimum necessary to make the identifier unique is ignored. They're literally stripped from the output if you don't retain debug symbols or use a minifier (depending on the type of language).
I realize you're trying to explain a way of thinking that you don't actually share—but this doesn't make sense to me either.
Computers parse identifiers in only the simplest sense—they care if two identifiers are identical to each other or different. So, any identifier longer than one or two characters is in some sense a comment, because everything longer the minimum necessary to make the identifier unique is ignored. They're literally stripped from the output if you don't retain debug symbols or use a minifier (depending on the type of language).