Naming things in Phobos - std.algorithm and writefln

Andrei Alexandrescu SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org
Wed Aug 5 08:38:55 PDT 2009


Jeremie Pelletier wrote:
> Andrei Alexandrescu Wrote:
> 
>> Michel Fortin wrote:
>>> Alternatively, "writefln" could be an exception to the rules, but then 
>>> the exception would need a better rationale than "it shouldn't look like 
>>> Java". I mean, if Phobos makes unjustified exceptions to its naming 
>>> conventions here and there for no good other reason than "it looks 
>>> good", it breaks the concistency and makes function names less 
>>> predictable and less readable.
>> I agree that Phobos' names could use a good overhaul. That would make it 
>> easier for growing it too.
>>
>> Certain names could be kept short and intuitive although they don't fit 
>> common conventions.
>>
>>
>> Andrei
> 
> You could also use aliases to make everyone happy, thats what I do in my local phobos source, its just a bitch to upgrade to the newest dmd while keeping my own changes ;)
> 
> One of the most annoying names I've had in phobos was the std.utf.encode/decode functions. When I would come across these in some code it wasnt descriptive enough as to what was being done. So I rewrote the std.utf module to use names such as toUTF8, toUTF16 and toUnicode, and made a generic toUTF template to call the proper one. Then aliased encode and decode to their corresponding toUTF calls to keep compatibility with the rest of phobos, works like a charm.
> 
> I can mail you my version of std.utf if you want Andrei.

I'd be glad to look at it! Just give me time.

Andrei



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