211–220 of 325 posts
My latest example is, "I need to provide a flag to switch if this element is positive or negative. What do I name the flag?" (came up with simply: sign, or polarity)
subtype Probability is Float range 0.0 .. 1.0;
Enter a fractional-unit-scalar value for the bias parameter
Enter a fractional-unit-scalar value for probability p0
I don't think this is a naming issue at all. In the provided example, 'Accuracy' is the correct name for the parameter, as that's what the parameter represents, accuracy. The fact that accuracy should be given as a value in an interval from 0 to 1 should be a property of parameter type . In other words, the parameter should not be a float, but a more constrained type that allows floats only in [0,1]. EDIT: Some of yo…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's like saying that inches are the same thing as yards because you can convert from one to the other.
What I was taught in school is that "percent" doesn't refer to 0 - 100, it refers to 0% - 100% which is equal to 0 - 1 (not really a conversion, actually equal). As 0% and 100% aren't floats (they're more like formatted values), seeing AccuracyPercent in the question had me thinking there was nothing more accurate.
I don't think this is a naming issue at all. In the provided example, 'Accuracy' is the correct name for the parameter, as that's what the parameter represents, accuracy. The fact that accuracy should be given as a value in an interval from 0 to 1 should be a property of parameter type . In other words, the parameter should not be a float, but a more constrained type that allows floats only in [0,1]. EDIT: Some of yo…
> However, I believe most of the more popular languages support creation of custom data types? No, most don't, except if you go into building custom classes.
That seems a very elaborate way to say “No" when the answer is really “Yes”.
Percentage. But in the code I'd probably use X_range depending on what 0..1 represents
Is there a resource for "help naming stuff"? Naming is hard. Especially so when you dabble in domains you're not learned in. I have almost no math background so sometimes I really struggle to know what to name things. My latest example is, "I need to provide a flag to switch if this element is positive or negative. What do I name the flag?" (came up with simply: sign, or polarity)
I've called this 'unit real' in the past, but wasn't happy with it. 'Portion' is good, from one of the answers. ('Proportion' and 'fraction' unfortunately both suggest a ratio of integers instead of a unit real. It'd sure be convenient if these two different words weren't fixed to that same meaning.) For neologisms, 'tweening' comes to mind. (Think of the coefficient of a convex combination. 'Tweenness' feels just a…
> Booleans have the same problem that we lack a plain English short word for "yes or no answer". "Binary" is the term I use. E.g., "It's not a binary proposition" to call out a false dichotomy.