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Course Library · Lesson 4 of 6
Digital · Guided lesson

Rename for meaning without altering semantics

About 19 minutes · 4 reading + 15 practice and checks
Time includes reading, practice, and questions. Extra videos or further study are optional.
See this course’s project requirements

A before/after fictional fee calculator split into pure functions with an executable equivalence suite, clearer names and documented intentional nonchanges.

Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.

What to include

  • Produce a complete valid/rejected behavior contract and intentional-change boundary.
  • Retain full finite valid-space coverage and explicitly scoped invalid-case comparisons.
  • Create checked validation/subtotal helpers and preserve the public entry contract.
  • Produce a domain-name/reference review with unchanged discount and delivery semantics.
  • Retain a passing baseline and an expected failing price mutation without altering final pricing.
  • Deliver an independently reasoned, repeatable refactor with finite coverage and selected-invalid limits.

Review and revise

Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.

  • The implementation or declared simulation follows the supplied contract and retains inspectable original inputs.
  • Normal, boundary and rejected cases are recorded with expected versus observed results.
  • The changed case has a correct explanation and does not rely on hidden state.
  • The project includes source, outputs, instructions and honest tool, privacy and verification limits.
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Before you begin

The idea in everyday life

Fictional workshop kits: quantity 1–20, $3 per kit, a 20% member discount on kit subtotal, and $2.50 only for post. Calculations return integer cents. legacy_fee.py and refactored_fee.py must agree on permitted and rejected requests.

The idea

Clear names express domain quantities and units. Renaming must preserve references and meaning; a clearer name does not justify a different numeric rule.

Follow along

Rename for meaning without altering semantics — original worked practice

Clear names express domain quantities and units. Renaming must preserve references and meaning; a clearer name does not justify a different numeric rule.

Fictional workshop kits: quantity 1–20, $3 per kit, a 20% member discount on kit subtotal, and $2.50 only for post. Calculations return integer cents. legacy_fee.py and refactored_fee.py must agree on permitted and rejected requests.

  1. 1. Step 1

    Compare the legacy variable a with subtotal amount and UNIT_CENTS in the new module.

    You should see: The new names reveal purpose and cents units.

    Clear names express domain quantities and units. Renaming must preserve references and meaning; a clearer name does not justify a different numeric rule.

  2. 2. Step 2

    Trace every call and reference after extraction, including POST_CENTS and member discount.

    You should see: Definitions and uses stay aligned.

    Clear names express domain quantities and units. Renaming must preserve references and meaning; a clearer name does not justify a different numeric rule.

  3. 3. Step 3

    Keep integer arithmetic amount*80//100 exactly as the declared discount behavior.

    You should see: The 20% discount semantics remain.

    Clear names express domain quantities and units. Renaming must preserve references and meaning; a clearer name does not justify a different numeric rule.

  4. 4. Step 4

    Run the 88-case suite and record readability changes separately from observable behavior.

    You should see: A name/reference and preserved-semantics review.

    Clear names express domain quantities and units. Renaming must preserve references and meaning; a clearer name does not justify a different numeric rule.

Now change one thing

A name changes to DISCOUNT_PERCENT=80 but code subtracts 80%. Is that the same behavior?

Your work

What to finish

Produce a domain-name/reference review with unchanged discount and delivery semantics.

Common mistake

Watch for this

Using a clearer-looking percentage name while reversing what the percentage means.

How can I tell I understand it?

Demonstrate the rule: Clear names express domain quantities and units. Renaming must preserve references and meaning; a clearer name does not justify a different numeric rule. Use the supplied variant to distinguish a changed result from a broken implementation.

Try 3 questions

Quick knowledge check

Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.

Not yet passed

You’ll get an explanation for each answer. Signed in? Your results save to your account.

1What does the factor 80 represent in the supplied subtotal?
2Which name best explains the constant 250 here?
3What should accompany a readability rename?
0 of 3 answeredApply the lesson to a short question, then review the explanation.
4
Finish this lesson

Pass the check. We’ll save the progress.

Answer all 3 questions above and get at least 2 right. You can review the explanations and try again.

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Sources and further reading

Explore the references behind this lesson.

docs.python.org — controlflow.html
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Relevant documented module/API behavior inspected during expansion authoring; actual execution evidence is recorded separately. No grant eligibility is established.

Access: Official page retrieved with the web reader on 2026-10-01. Documentation reading does not certify execution in every native tool or browser.

Reuse: Original local practice files, fictional data, worked examples and questions. Concepts paraphrased and linked; source exercises are not copied.

docs.python.org — modules.html
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Relevant documented module/API behavior inspected during expansion authoring; actual execution evidence is recorded separately. No grant eligibility is established.

Access: Official page retrieved with the web reader on 2026-10-01. Documentation reading does not certify execution in every native tool or browser.

Reuse: Original local practice files, fictional data, worked examples and questions. Concepts paraphrased and linked; source exercises are not copied.

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