On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 5:31 PM, Haravikk via swift-evolution < swift-evolution@swift.org> wrote:
> NaN is really a problem only because of using it as an acronym rather than > just having .invalidNumber or .notANumber (little uglier) or something > similar instead. This comes back to the annoying consideration between > something being prior art, at the cost of potentially defining something > that’s better, or a better fit for the language. If NaN didn’t exist > elsewhere, would we even consider it at all if we were implementing float > point numbers for the first ever time in Swift? I’d prefer we defined > something more verbose as an alternative to avoid the acronym entirely. > > When it comes to having iPad conformance the question is; should we ever > actually test for names at all? An iPad is a brand, it’s not really > something that a program should test for, as what’s important to a program > are capabilities. The same is true with testing for an OS, we don’t want to > test Windows, Mac etc., but rather to test what libraries are available. > Same is true with hardware; it doesn’t matter if a device is an iPad, what > matters is that it has a touch-screen rather than a keyboard, that it has a > small screen rather than a full monitor, that it’s mobile (and not plugged > in) etc. > Testing for names like that should be avoided at all costs when it comes > to variable and method names, and be relegated to string-based tests for > when you absolutely have to access that information. In other words > programs should be platform agnostic, and only need to know whether > capabilities they require or optionally support exist or not. > For these I’d prefer that the guidelines warn against these in the > strongest possible terms, as they’re usually a bad idea IMO. Whether using the word iPad is wise or not, the question still remains what to do when encountering a term that looks like that. If I'm writing an app that deals with chemical compounds, how should I name a type that deals with pH? How about a computed property representing pH? Should either or both be PH, pH, or ph? It certainly will not do to say "just name it powerOfHydrogen".
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