Make the variable and method names clearer

common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/course_module.py

@@ -672,10 +672,10 @@ class CourseDescriptor(CourseFields, SequenceDescriptor):
 
     @property
     def forum_posts_allowed(self):
-        datestandin = Date()
+        date_proxy = Date()
         try:
-            blackout_periods = [(datestandin.from_json(start),
-                                 datestandin.from_json(end))
+            blackout_periods = [(date_proxy.from_json(start),
+                                 date_proxy.from_json(end))
                                 for start, end
                                 in self.discussion_blackouts]
             now = datetime.now(UTC())

common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/fields.py

@@ -17,8 +17,9 @@ class Date(ModelType):
     '''
     # See note below about not defaulting these
     CURRENT_YEAR = datetime.datetime.now(UTC).year
-    DEFAULT_DATE0 = datetime.datetime(CURRENT_YEAR, 1, 1, tzinfo=UTC)
-    DEFAULT_DATE1 = datetime.datetime(CURRENT_YEAR, 2, 2, tzinfo=UTC)
+    PREVENT_DEFAULT_DAY_MON_SEED1 = datetime.datetime(CURRENT_YEAR, 1, 1, tzinfo=UTC)
+    PREVENT_DEFAULT_DAY_MON_SEED2 = datetime.datetime(CURRENT_YEAR, 2, 2, tzinfo=UTC)
+
     def _parse_date_wo_default_month_day(self, field):
         """
         Parse the field as an iso string but prevent dateutils from defaulting the day or month while
@@ -27,8 +28,8 @@ class Date(ModelType):
         # It's not trivial to replace dateutil b/c parsing timezones as Z, +03:30, -400 is hard in python
         # however, we don't want dateutil to default the month or day (but some tests at least expect
         # us to default year); so, we'll see if dateutil uses the defaults for these the hard way
-        result = dateutil.parser.parse(field, default=self.DEFAULT_DATE0)
-        result_other = dateutil.parser.parse(field, default=self.DEFAULT_DATE1)
+        result = dateutil.parser.parse(field, default=self.PREVENT_DEFAULT_DAY_MON_SEED1)
+        result_other = dateutil.parser.parse(field, default=self.PREVENT_DEFAULT_DAY_MON_SEED1)
         if result != result_other:
             log.warning("Field {0} is missing month or day".format(self._name, field))
             return None

common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/tests/test_fields.py

@@ -56,7 +56,10 @@ class DateTest(unittest.TestCase):
             DateTest.date.from_json("December 4 16:30"))
         self.assertIsNone(DateTest.date.from_json("12 12:00"))
 
-    def test_odd_from_json(self):
+    def test_non_std_from_json(self):
+        """
+        Test the non-standard args being passed to from_json
+        """
         now = datetime.datetime.now(UTC())
         delta = now - datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(0, UTC())
         self.assertEqual(DateTest.date.from_json(delta.total_seconds() * 1000),