"Consume", "Skip", "Eat", "Munch", "Bite", or...?

[Jonathan M Davis]

Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:

> I also defined recently:
> 
> =======================
> /**
> If $(D startsWith(r1, r2)), consume the corresponding elements off $(D
> r1) and return $(D true). Otherwise, leave $(D r1) unchanged and
> return $(D false).
>   */
> bool startsWithConsume(R1, R2)(ref R1 r1, R2 r2);
> =======================
> 
> There are a few other functions like that: one version takes a range by
> value, the other takes it by reference and alters it.
> 
> The question is, what is a good naming convention for expressing that?
> Other examples: findConsume, consumeFind.
> 
> 
> Andrei

I thought that that was basically what chompPrefix did, and chompPrefix 
seems like a great name to me, but I guess that that's not entirely 
generalizable: chompFind or findChomp would be a bit weird. Consume seems 
like the best of the ones that you suggested. It is explicitly what you're 
doing. It's a bit long, but the others aren't as clear. Other suggestions 
might be erase or remove, since you appear to be erasing/removing elements 
from the range. Consume is probably better though.

- Jonathan M Davis

P.S. You could also go for startsWithFineDiningWithAFourCourseMeal. People 
would absolutely love _that_ function name. ;)