[OT] Naming

[Timon Gehr via Digitalmars-d]

On 30.11.2016 22:12, Ilya Yaroshenko wrote:
> On Wednesday, 30 November 2016 at 20:36:34 UTC, Timon Gehr wrote:
>> On 30.11.2016 16:22, Ilya Yaroshenko wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Mir Random has [1, D] 16 out of 20 [2, C++] random number distributions.
>>>
>>> Remaining 4 are:
>>>
>>> 1. piecewise_constant_distribution
>>> 2. piecewise_linear_distribution
>>> 3. binomial_distribution
>>> 4. negative_binomial_distribution
>>>
>>> [1] http://docs.random.dlang.io/latest/mir_random_variable.html
>>> [2] http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/concept/RandomNumberDistribution
>>>
>>> Any takers?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Ilya
>>>
>>
>> Unrelated question: Why are the samplers called 'random variables'?
>> I'd advice to consistently use the naming convention of 'Discrete' and
>> rename the module to 'mir.random.distributions' or similar.
>
> "random distribution" is like "accidental distribution".

I wasn't aware that you want to read your package names like that (Such 
a reading does not seem to be possible for the other mir packages).

> "random
> variable" is much more frequently used definition is stats world (stats
> world != stats packages).

I'm familiar with statistics, and I agree that the terminology used 
should be 'right'.

> Also this better describes what functionality
> provides module.

Not really. The module provides samplers/generators for random variates 
drawn from certain probability distributions. But even if the module 
name stays, the /generators/ shouldn't be called "Variable".

> "Distribution" may be used for PDF or for CDF (or their
> pair).

The distribution is the fundamental thing, the PDF/CDF characterize it.