Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know! Hotels-rs
My company has been throwing `-ng` on all the new versions.
What’s ‘ng’ short for? Next generation?
Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
131–140 of 339 posts
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#132The author seems to be talking about names for two totally different things, lumping them under the term "component." Whimsical project name? No problem. Whimsical type name within a project? Really bad idea. Whimsical variable name? Don't even think about it. The concept the author is missing is "convention." Whimsical project names fall within a well-understood and used convention. The convention for type and varia…
> Whimsical project names fall within a well-understood and used convention. Boy, I wish! I 100% second TFA when I tell you: There are a lot of really really boring people out there that just don't get it. They think "Product Data Exporter" is the perfect project name.
If you call your data exporter "Asparagus" I will throw a thesaurus at you every day until you come up with a better name for it that has some kind of mnemonic link to what it does. "Data Exporter" is okay, but "Catapult" or "Superhighway" or another whimsical name would be okay too, so long as it loosely matches the problem domain in a memorable way.
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#133Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#134I came up with the idea with my first PC to name my computers after Popes (skipping the numbers). That computer was named Peter. To be honest, I could not tell you the name of the laptop I’m typing this on right now without looking it up. So much for a clever naming scheme being useful.
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#135The author seems to be talking about names for two totally different things, lumping them under the term "component." Whimsical project name? No problem. Whimsical type name within a project? Really bad idea. Whimsical variable name? Don't even think about it. The concept the author is missing is "convention." Whimsical project names fall within a well-understood and used convention. The convention for type and varia…
I was once tasked with extracting valuable IP from a legacy codebase where the developers had named all types after animals. So there was a SealService, a WalrusFactory, etc. etc. It was horrible and infuriating. They thought they were being cute, instead they just made everyone who ever looked at their code hate them with a passion.
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#136The author seems to be talking about names for two totally different things, lumping them under the term "component." Whimsical project name? No problem. Whimsical type name within a project? Really bad idea. Whimsical variable name? Don't even think about it. The concept the author is missing is "convention." Whimsical project names fall within a well-understood and used convention. The convention for type and varia…
> Whimsical project names fall within a well-understood and used convention. Boy, I wish! I 100% second TFA when I tell you: There are a lot of really really boring people out there that just don't get it. They think "Product Data Exporter" is the perfect project name.
Better be consistently boring than ever misleading
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#137The author seems to be talking about names for two totally different things, lumping them under the term "component." Whimsical project name? No problem. Whimsical type name within a project? Really bad idea. Whimsical variable name? Don't even think about it. The concept the author is missing is "convention." Whimsical project names fall within a well-understood and used convention. The convention for type and varia…
What about a whimsical emoji as a variable name? lol.
Probably not by itself but it isn't that fundamentally different from some language conventions allowing/preferring glyphs over words for certain meanings eg `string->int` rather than `stringToInt` or whatever.
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. The advice is contextual. If you're making a public web framework, probably don't call it Web Framework. If you work at a company and you're writing the one and only hotel booking service, do call it Hotels instead of forcing your coworkers to memorize yet another cute name.
This only works once though. In ten years, none of the original developers of Hotels are with the company. The new generation of engineers is upset both with Hotels’ limitations and the fact that it’s not written in XYZ language which they really want to have on their résumés. So they embark on a total rewrite of Hotels, and to emphasize the awesomeness, most likely it will be called either Phoenix (because one out o…
I solve that by naming my greenfield projects "hotels_old" from the get-go. It makes things easier for the next guy who replaces it.
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Whimsical project names fall within a well-understood and used convention. Boy, I wish! I 100% second TFA when I tell you: There are a lot of really really boring people out there that just don't get it. They think "Product Data Exporter" is the perfect project name.
Better be consistently boring than ever misleading
But as products evolve, their boring names become misleading. At least with non-boring names you can re-define what they represent in your company.
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#140The author seems to be talking about names for two totally different things, lumping them under the term "component." Whimsical project name? No problem. Whimsical type name within a project? Really bad idea. Whimsical variable name? Don't even think about it. The concept the author is missing is "convention." Whimsical project names fall within a well-understood and used convention. The convention for type and varia…
I think a whimsical type name can have a sort of purpose. Sometimes a name goes from being descriptive to being prescriptive. It feels like a straightjacket, preventing you from adding code that would otherwise naturally fit there. In that case I think a whimsical name can be a good idea. Then later when the dust has settled, when you reach the top of the mountain and get a clear view of things, then you can revisit the name.