strong +1 for changing the name away from sideOutput - the fact that sideInput and sideOutput are not really related was definitely a source of confusion for me when learning beam.
S On Tue, Apr 11, 2017 at 1:56 PM Thomas Groh <tg...@google.com.invalid> wrote: > Hey everyone: > > I'd like to rename DoFn.Context#sideOutput to #output (in the Java SDK). > > Having two methods, both named output, one which takes the "main output > type" and one that takes a tag to specify the type more clearly > communicates the actual behavior - sideOutput isn't a "special" way to > output, it's the same as output(T), just to a specified PCollection. This > will help pipeline authors understand the actual behavior of outputting to > a tag, and detangle it from "sideInput", which is a special way to receive > input. Giving them the same name means that it's not even strange to call > output and provide the main output type, which is what we want - it's a > more specific way to output, but does not have different restrictions or > capabilities. > > This is also a pretty small change within the SDK - it touches about 20 > files, and the changes are pretty automatic. > > Thanks, > > Thomas >
