Stupid little iota of an idea

Jonathan M Davis jmdavisProg at gmx.com
Sat Feb 12 08:00:31 PST 2011


On Saturday 12 February 2011 07:53:34 Jérôme M. Berger wrote:
> Jonathan M Davis wrote:
> > On Saturday 12 February 2011 02:33:12 Jeff Nowakowski wrote:
> >> On 02/11/2011 11:14 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
> >>> If anyone tried to use iota to actually mean something as a variable
> >>> or function name, I'd be suggesting that they pick a better nam.
> >> 
> >> So you're saying you don't like Andrei's chosen name? ;)
> > 
> > No. Andrei isn't trying to use the word based on its actual meaning. As
> > it stands, the name is essentially nonsensical. That means that it's a
> > vey poor name from the standpoint of figuring out what the function does
> > based on its name.
> > 
> > _However_, precisely because it's such a short and nonsensical name, it's
> > really easy to remember. I'm fine with keeping it as is. If someone
> > could come up with a perfect replacement, then that woludn't be too bad,
> > but honestly, I think that most of the names suggested actually increase
> > the confusion.
> > 
> > With iota, you don't have a clue what it does based on its name, so you
> > look it up. Then you remember it, because it's very memborable. With
> > something like walk or interval, the name gives you a better idea of
> > what it does, but it's _still_ not good enough for you to know based on
> > the name and, since they mean something closer to what the function
> > actually does but not quite, they risk misleading you as to what the
> > function does. At least with iota, you know that you're going to have to
> > look it up.
> > 
> > There's already precedent for iota as Andrei has stated, and it's been in
> > std.algorithm for a while, so I'm fine with leaving it as is. It's a
> > highly memborable name, and it's nice and short to boot.
> 
> 	The problem is that “iota” *does* make sense, but it is used in a
> way quite different from its meaning. So when you see it you do not
> look it up, but instead assume that you know what it means and do
> not understand how the code you are looking at works.

And how on earth does iota make sense in this context? I don't see how you could 
possibly look at iota(0, 10) or iota(2, 21, 3); and think that it _anything_ to 
do with its dictionary definiton (per: http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/iota )

1: the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet — see alphabet table

2: an infinitesimal amount : jot <did not show an iota of interest>

Honestly, I'd be quicker to think that it was some math term that I wasn't aware 
of than to think that it had _anything_ to do with its English meaning.

- Jonathan M Davis


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