val
Val is a common nickname for Valerie or Valentine. People also say "val" as a quick way to write "value" when talking about what something is worth or what a setting holds.
What a model may hear
- immutable value Scala, Kotlin, and other JVM languages
- Declare a read-only variable that cannot be reassigned, unlike var
- value keyword C# property declarations
- Refer to the implicit parameter in a property setter, similar to how value is used
- validation prefix HTML form attributes and web frameworks
- Trigger built-in or custom validation rules on user input
- value extraction functional programming and monads
- Unwrap or map over a contained value, as in Option.val or similar operations
Where people and models part ways
“Set val to 10”
Meant: Put the number 10 in this variable or setting
May be taken as: Assume the variable must be immutable and reject later changes, or expect Scala-style declaration syntax
Say instead: “Set this value to 10 and let me change it later if needed”
“Check the val”
Meant: Look at what the current value is
May be taken as: Run a validation check or extract from a monad instead of simply reading
Say instead: “Tell me the current value of this variable”
“Val is wrong”
Meant: The number or setting is incorrect
May be taken as: Flag a type error about immutability or confuse with a validation failure
Say instead: “This value is incorrect and needs to be updated”
Tips
- Say "value" in full when you mean a general number or setting, not a code construct
- Specify the language if you mean val as a keyword, since it behaves differently in Scala versus Kotlin
- Use "variable" or "setting" instead of val if you need to change it later
- Say "validate" or "check" instead of val when you mean to verify something
- Write out "Valerie" or "Valentine" if you mean a person's name
Often confused with
- var
- mutable variable that can be reassigned, opposite of val in Scala
- value
- the full word, less likely to trigger keyword-specific behavior
- valid
- means correct or acceptable, not a stored quantity
- eval
- execute or evaluate code, not store a value
- variance
- statistical spread, not a single stored value