RFC: naming for FrontTransversal and Transversal ranges

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

Robert Jacques wrote:
> On Sat, 02 May 2009 10:18:41 -0400, Andrei Alexandrescu 
> <SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> wrote:
>> Bill Baxter wrote:
>>> On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 6:25 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu
>>>>  Matrix a, b, c; ... c = a; a += b;
>>>>  Does the last operation mutate c as well?
>>>  I said "assignments like a = b are rare" and you put one of those in 
>>> your example.
>>
>> You said it and I don't buy it one femtosecond. Code does need to copy
>> values around. It's a fundamental operation!
> 
> Andrei, he said that explicit assignments/copies of arrays/containers 
> are rare in numeric computing, which I agree with. Just because it's a 
> fundamental operation doesn't mean it gets used much is his (or I guess 
> Numply's actually) specific applications. Also, 
> disregarding/disbelieving a use case is not helpful to this discussion.

He said something. That's about as much proof as was seen. I didn't buy 
it so I replied without assuming the same as him. Then he repeated "but 
I said that!" which upped the ante from supposition to presupposition. I 
think presuppositions are particularly pernicious so I felt the need to 
explicitly say that I don't believe it just because he said it. It's not 
a use case. It's just something that was said. If some sort of evidence 
is given, that would be great. Don't put the onus on me to disprove what 
was said.

>>> Yes, when you have an a=b anywhere you've got to pay attention and
>>> make sure you didn't mean a=b.dup.
>>
>> That is terrible. Anywhere == a portion of the code far, far away.
> 
> No, he was talking about a local decision. i.e. Did I or didn't I mean 
> to make a logical copy here?

The local decision has effects that may go undetected until much later.


Andrei