Alright, let me tell you about this thing I started doing, my “magic reserved list.” It wasn’t something I read in a book or anything, it just sort of… happened out of pure frustration, you know?
I was wrestling with this system, a while back. Doesn’t matter which one, they all have their quirks. But this one, man, it was something else. I’d be setting up new user accounts, or maybe some configuration parameters, and things would just blow up. Or worse, they’d act super weird, not giving an error, just… not doing what they were supposed to. I’d spend hours, sometimes days, pulling my hair out.
The breaking point, or well, one of many, was when I tried to name a new user group something like “system_operators.” Seemed logical, right? Nope. The whole permissions module just went haywire. Later, after a lot of coffee and staring at logs, I figured out “system” was a no-go word. It was like a hidden landmine. And the documentation? Forget about it. Nothing. Zero. Zilch.
So, I got this old-school notebook. Yeah, paper. And I started writing these words down. Every time something broke because of a name or a keyword, it went into the notebook. “system,” “admin,” “root,” “config,” “default” – the usual suspects. But then there were weirder ones, specific to that crappy piece of software I was dealing with.
My First List
It started pretty small. Just a few words. But then, on the next project, same kind of weirdness. Different words, same problem. So, I kept adding to my notebook. It wasn’t very organized at first, just a running list of terms to avoid or handle with extreme care.
- I’d try to create something.
- It would fail spectacularly or silently misbehave.
- I’d spend ages debugging.
- Eventually, I’d find out it was because I used a “magic” word in a name or an ID.
- That word went straight onto my list.
After a while, this notebook, it became my little bible. Before I named anything – a variable, a function, a database table, a user profile, you name it – I’d flip through my “magic reserved list.” Saved me so much grief, you wouldn’t believe.
It wasn’t just about avoiding words either. Sometimes, I’d find that using a certain word required a special format or triggered some hidden background process. So, I’d make notes about that too. “If using ‘backup’, also set parameter X to true.” That kind of stuff.
Over time, I moved it from the notebook to a simple text file on my computer. Easier to search, easier to update. I even started categorizing them a bit, like “OS reserved,” “Database reserved,” “App_X_Internal.” Nothing fancy, just enough to make it usable for me.
It sounds almost silly, right? A grown person keeping a list of “bad words” for computers. But honestly, in a world where documentation is often an afterthought, or just plain wrong, my little “magic reserved list” has been a lifesaver. It’s just a practical thing I picked up from getting burned too many times. Now, it’s one of the first things I talk about when new folks join the team – “Hey, before you name that, check the list!” It’s not official, it’s not in any manual, but it works.