How many intermediate steps should you use when programming? : <p>I am not new to programming and can solve most my daily programming problems alone, but I have a question, which will most likely be closed in a few minutes/hours. But still, I am interested in what you guys have to say about this.</p>

<p>Let's look at this simple Python code snippet for example:</p>

<pre><code>word = "cake"
loud_word = word.upper()
word_length = len(word)
print("%s -&gt; %s, length: %s" % (word, loud_word, word_length))
</code></pre>

<p>And now look at this:</p>

<pre><code>word = "cake"
print("%s -&gt; %s, length: %s" % (word, word.upper(), len(word)))
</code></pre>

<p>They do exactly the same thing. Which one should you use though? Avoid many variables and output directly, or not?</p>

<p>I didn't find anything regarding this in PEP0008.</p>

<p>(I know, this may be a stupid question but I am obsessed with using next to no variables right now and I want to hear your opinion.)</p>
