On Mon, 29 Mar 2010, Yakov wrote: > On Mar 28, 6:28 pm, "Benjamin R. Haskell" <v...@benizi.com> wrote: > > Andy Wokula just uploaded what seems like a useful plugin called > > 'motpat'. > > I don't think short names of plugins come from 8.3, there is different > reason. See below.
The help text itself claimed it was for "compatibility with old Windows versions". Otherwise, there's no reason to pick 8. > > Months from now, there's no way I'd remember 'motpat' comes from > > You don't need to remember the precise name. There is google. That's ridiculous. Figuring out what a plugin does shouldn't require a search engine. I'm talking about the name to functionality mapping, not vice versa. (I have 'motpat'. What does 'motpat' do?) > If you remember enough keywords (motion, mappings, pattern), then > typing "vim" + "plugin" + keywords into google will take you to > motpat.vim faster than you'd expect. If I knew those keywords, Google could just as easily lead me to flibbyDibbyDoo.vim if the plugin's description were the same as motpat.vim. The name doesn't assist in the search; the name assists in the reverse (Plugin called XYZ.vim has functionality associated with X, Y, and Z). Besides, the need for the plugin arose from (paraphrasing): "w doesn't move over word characters in a natural way" (none of which points toward 'plugin', 'mappings', or 'pattern') > Long name ? Using long name won't guaranee one remembers its > precisely. > Was is MotionMappingsByPattern.vim ? > Or CreateMotionMappingsByPattern.vim ? > Or MotionMapsPattern.vim ? > The longer name, the more possibilities. *ALL* of those are better than 'motpat'. If I've installed it already, I can clearly remember what the plugin does by its name. If someone tells me I should install MotionMappingsByPattern.vim, it's obvious that it does something related to 'motion', 'mappings', and 'patterns'. Even motionpattern.vim (what first came to mind) is much better. > I, personally, don't beleive I'm better at remembering verbatim long > names than at remembering short names. It's not the length -- it's the lack of abbreviation. And memorability isn't the key goal anyway. > If you want to see long mnemonic name in your ~/.vimrc directory, you > can create a symlink locally, using whatever you remember well. > > I wrote plugins myself. I beleive short names have nothing to do with > 8.3. When debugging and writing and polishing the plugin, author > types its name thousands of times. So there is tendency to shorten the > name, just for typing convenience. Turn on autocompletion (Vim and/or shell). 'MotionMappingsByPattern' just took me four keystrokes to type: M o t <Tab> (Six, counting the surrounding single-quotes.) > Symlinks are your friends for local convenience, and google - for > search. Names longer than 8 characters are everyone's friend for global convenience. -- Best, Ben -- You received this message from the "vim_use" maillist. Do not top-post! Type your reply below the text you are replying to. For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php To unsubscribe from this group, send email to vim_use+unsubscribegooglegroups.com or reply to this email with the words "REMOVE ME" as the subject.
