On Thu Jul 26 19:22:57 2007, particle wrote: > while typing > perl Configure.pl --nomanicheck ---verbose-step=init::gcc > --configure_trace > > earlier today in order to debug a configure-related problem i was > having, i felt --configure_trace was too much to type. > > i'd like to see --trace instead, if it makes sense and doesn't overlap > with an existing option.
I considered that when developing Parrot::Configure::Trace. But I felt that if someone dreamed up other options in the future which did (in some sense) tracing, it would be better to have a more specifically self-documenting option name. In a situation like this, we have to strike a balance between identifiers which are: (a) self-documenting but possibly verbose; (b) succinct but opaque. (a) maximizes the utility of all those studying/working on Parrot who are encountering the identifier for the first time. (b) maximizes the utility of the relative handful of Parrot hackers who are actually using the identifier in their daily work. My own inclination is that when I'm repeatedly using a command with multiple/lengthy-to-spell options, I put all of that into a shell alias or into a symlink. But I wouldn't rule out a change to this option name in the context of other improvements to the module. kid51
