Prefer inline to up-front declarations
If you follow these guidelines, your methods will become so short (3-5 statements) that declaring variables inline at first occurrence will look more natural
METHOD do_something.
DATA(name) = 'something'.
DATA(reader) = /clean/reader=>get_instance_for( name ).
result = reader->read_it( ).
ENDMETHOD.than declaring variables with a separate DATA section at the beginning of the method
" anti-pattern
METHOD do_something.
DATA:
name TYPE seoclsname,
reader TYPE REF TO /dirty/reader.
name = 'something'.
reader = /dirty/reader=>get_instance_for( name ).
result = reader->read_it( ).
ENDMETHOD.Read more in Chapter 5: Formatting: Vertical Distance: Variable Declarations of Robert C. Martin’s Clean Code.