On 2/13/11 3:15 AM, foobar wrote:
Andrei Alexandrescu Wrote:
On 2/11/11 7:07 AM, foobar wrote:
Andrei Alexandrescu Wrote:
I don't find the name "iota" stupid.
Andrei
Of course _you_ don't. However practically all the users _do_ find it
poorly named, including other developers in the project.. This is the
umpteenth time this comes up in the NG and incidentally this is the
only reason I know what the function does.
If the users think the name is stupid than it really is. That's how
usability works and the fact the you think otherwise or that it might
be more accurate mathematically is really not relevant. If you want
D/Phobos to be used by other people besides yourself you need to
cater for their requirements.
Not all users dislike iota, and besides arguments ad populum are
fallacious. Iota rocks. But have at it - vote away, and I'll be glad if
a better name for iota comes about.
Andrei
Usability seems to be Achilles' heel of D and is a recurrent theme on the NG.
Usability cannot be mathematically deduced even though you seem to try hard to
do just that.
I think it would be a bit of an exaggeration to characterize the choice
of name "iota" as an impediment to usability. I'd agree if it were an
endemic problem, but generally I think the choice of names in Phobos is
adequate.
This reminds me the story of a Google designer that quit the company,
being frustrated by the engineering mind-set of the company. He gave
many amusing examples of a complete lack of understanding of design
principals such as choosing the shade of blue by doing a "scientific"
comparison of a thousand different shades.
"Principles"!!! "Principles"!!! I hate that typo.
could we for once put aside otherwise valid implementation concerns
such as efficiency and mathematical correctness and treat usability
as valid important concern? Could we for once accept that The users'
opinion is not "fallacious" and have a user oriented design is not a
bad thing or are we implementing for the sake of boosting ones own
ego and nothing else?
I've already mentioned: I'm ready to change this name and others if
consensus comes about. Generally efficiency and mathematical correctness
don't clash badly with choice of names, so probably you're referring to
something beyond that - just let us know.
Andrei
