On Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:38:09 -0500, Adam D. Ruppe
<destructiona...@gmail.com> wrote:
One of the stumbling blocks on using std.datetime is how
many bizarre abbreviations it has.
auto time = Clock.currentTime(); // bzzt, wrong
I would have guessed Clock.now();
if(time - something > duration!"hours"(4)) // bzzt, wrong
I would have guessed Duration.hours(4);
writeln(time.toISOExtendedString()); // bzzt, wrong, but this used to
work!
I would have looked this one up regardless :)
Why aren't we using real words here? Real words are easier
to remember and easier to type.
First, it doesn't matter what you pick. People have their expectations,
and nobody has the same ones. It's all about learning the library and
getting used to what is there.
Second, I agree that to abbreviate a couple characters is somewhat petty.
Third, I don't think any of the names in datetime are horrible.
dur!"seconds" is immediately clear what it means.
Fourth, I kind of like having names that aren't going to be common field
names. For example, duration may be a common field that I would put in
some kind of timer object.
You could make the same argument against dup vs. duplicate, or writeln vs.
writeLine, I could go on forever. There are no perfect names, because
everyone has a different opinion.
And the dmd spellchecker doesn't always help:
Error: template instance duration!("hours") template 'duration' is not
defined, did you mean Duration?
This is a red herring. The spellchecker cannot possibly know what you
meant unless you were only a couple characters off. It's not a
mind-reader.
std.datetime isn't the only one that does this, of course.
rndGen() in the middle of sane names like "unpredictableSeed"
and "randomShuffle". There's more, too.
Again, it's a matter of learning the library. Try going from Java to C#,
you have to learn Console.Out instead of System.out. Neither is intuitive
or perfect, you just have to learn it.
On your grounds, I would object to your proposed names as much as I do the
current ones, since I didn't guess them to begin with.
-Steve
