Stupid little iota of an idea

[spir]

On 02/10/2011 07:30 AM, Olivier Pisano wrote:
> Le 09/02/2011 21:08, Ary Manzana a écrit :
>> On 2/9/11 3:54 PM, bearophile wrote:
>>> - There is no need to learn to use a function with a weird syntax like
>>> iota, coming from APL. This makes Phobos and learning D a bit simpler.
>>
>> I would recommend stop using "weird" names for functions. Sorry if this
>> sounds a little harsh but the only reason I see this function is called
>> "iota" is to demonstrate knowledge (or to sound cool). But programmers
>> using a language don't care about whether the other programmer
>> demonstrates knowledge behind a function name, they just want to get
>> things done, fast.
>>
>> I mean, if I want to create a range of numbers I would search "range".
>> "iota" will never, ever come to my mind. D has to be more open to
>> public, not only to people who programmed in APL, Go or are mathematics
>> freaks. Guess how a range is called in Ruby? That's right, Range.
>>
>> Another example: retro. The documentation says "iterates a bidirectional
>> name backwards". Hm, where does "retro" appear in that text? If I want
>> to iterate it backwards, or to reverse the order, the first thing I
>> would write is reverse(range) or backwards(range), "retro" would never
>> come to my mind.
>>
>> (and no, replies like "you can always alias xxx" are not accepted :-P)
>
> Hi,
>
> I agree iota is a bad name.
> FWIW, what comes to my mind when I read it is an idea of tininess, such as in
> the expression : "It didn't change an iota". I certainly miss the mathematical
> reference.

What math sense. Maybe iota used for other meanings in english speaking math 
(would be surprised). I only know 2 uses: an alternative for imaginary 'i' or 
'j', and the module of length 1 along X-axis.
The latter obviously has some connexion with the notion of range, but it 
conflicts in fact, in that iota means a /single/ unit step, and range firstly 
denotes a series of values, not of steps/offsets between them.

Denis
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