Arbitrary abbreviations in phobos considered ridiculous

[Alex Rønne Petersen]

On 06-03-2012 19:08, H. S. Teoh wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 06, 2012 at 05:38:09PM +0100, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:
>> One of the stumbling blocks on using std.datetime is how
>> many bizarre abbreviations it has.
>>
>> auto time = Clock.currentTime(); // bzzt, wrong
>>
>> if(time - something>  duration!"hours"(4)) // bzzt, wrong
>>
>> writeln(time.toISOExtendedString()); // bzzt, wrong, but this used
>> to work!
>>
>>
>>
>> Why aren't we using real words here? Real words are easier
>> to remember and easier to type.
> [...]
>
> I have to disagree on this one. One of the reasons I hate Java so much
> is because of its gratuitouslyOverlongFullySpelledOutVariableNames. I
> mean, it takes almost the entire line of code to just refer to a
> variable, let alone do anything useful with it. There's nothing wrong
> with using abbreviations... BUT they have to be *consistent*.
>
> I do agree with you that arbitrary abbreviations are very bad. One
> module abbreviates "current" as "cur" and another module uses "curr". I
> agree that's very bad. We do need to standardize on these things so that
> they are consistent.
>
> My stance is that variable names *should* be abbreviated, but within
> reason, and abbreviations must be *consistent*.  Shortening loop indices
> to i, j, k is OK, because we know what they mean. However, renaming,
> say, "hours" to "i" is bad. On the other hand, spelling out
> "dayOfTheMonthExceptInLeapYears" is bad too. There needs to be a
> balance. Which is where consistency comes in, because if "balance" means
> "arbitrary point between two extremes", that doesn't work either.
>
> The sec/seconds arbitrary switch as somebody pointed out is an example
> of inconsistency. It causes confusion and makes it hard to remember. But
> if seconds was *always* abbreviated "sec", then there's no problem at
> all, and it's easier to type too.
>
> IOW I don't think abbreviations would be that big an issue if it weren't
> for the inconsistency. The fault is with inconsistency, not with
> abbreviations.
>
>
> T
>

You're arguing about variable names while the original post was about 
function names. IMHO you should not conflate naming of these two; the 
former is about locally scoped symbols while the latter is about 
publicly exposed APIs.

(Also, seriously, I think you're over-dramatizing the Java variable 
naming thing; I rarely see names that are as bad as you claim...)

-- 
- Alex