Kathi is understating it. There are TWO notions of "variable". In algebra, in f(x) = x^2, x is called a "variable" because it varies across invocations of f -- which is different from the CS notion of "varies within a single invocation". So it's not even illegitimate given the other meaning of "variable".
(As you know, I make a royal fuss about this in 173. So it took me a while to reconcile to this change. But I think it's absolutely right.) On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 3:52 PM, Kathi Fisler <kfis...@cs.wpi.edu> wrote: > The choice of "variable" is motivated by students and the desire to align > with terms they know from high school math. The distinction between > variable and identifier is too subtle for many students. > > Kathi > > On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 3:13 PM, Jay McCarthy <jay.mccar...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> "Use ‘argument’ for actual arguments and ‘variable’ for formal >> arguments and in the body of the definition." >> >> I prefer argument and parameter name, because until ASL, they don't >> vary. But it seems you prefer just variable, because you don't want >> two terms for the things made by 'define' and the things made by >> 'lambda'? This is very bikesheddy, but I dislike your choice. >> >> Jay >> >> 2011/6/3 Shriram Krishnamurthi <s...@cs.brown.edu>: >> > Guillaume, Kathi and I have created a set of guidelines for writing >> > error messages for *SL. For consistency, these guidelines need to be >> > used also by authors of libraries including Teachpacks, etc. These >> > guidelines are currently being applied to all the error messages in >> > *SL in the core distribution. >> > >> > Please review these guidelines and let us know if anything is >> > unclear. We'd like to hear back from you within a week, by >> > >> > Fri, June 10 >> > >> > We have had to compromise on the description a little to make >> > everything fit into a small number of pages, which we did because we >> > really do hope people will print these out and put them on the wall or >> > next to their monitor to refer to while writing code. Therefore, >> > lengthy descriptions are out. >> > >> > In particular, rationale is also out. If you are curious about the >> > rationales for any of these things, please do ask. >> > >> > After this is settled next week, we will send this to users@ and also >> > to edu@ to tell instructors to follow these terms. >> > >> > Thanks, >> > Shriram >> > >> > _________________________________________________ >> > For list-related administrative tasks: >> > http://lists.racket-lang.org/listinfo/dev >> > >> >> >> >> -- >> Jay McCarthy <j...@cs.byu.edu> >> Assistant Professor / Brigham Young University >> http://faculty.cs.byu.edu/~jay >> >> "The glory of God is Intelligence" - D&C 93 >> > > _________________________________________________ For list-related administrative tasks: http://lists.racket-lang.org/listinfo/dev