Gregor Lingl wrote:
> Hi, all of you,
>
> currently im experimenting with a feature of my
> xturtle module:
>
> there is the function clear which deletes all
> items drawn on a turtle-screen without changing
> the state of the turtle (when called without
> argument).
>
> now im experimenting with clear(n), which
> accepts as optional argument an integer n.
>
> It will act differently for positive and
> negative n.
>
> example:
>
> clear(5) will delete the first 5 graphic-items
> (lines, areas etc) drawn (sort of FIFO-undo)
>
> clear(-5) will delete the last 5 items
> drawn. Sort of LIFO-undo. Particularly
> clear(-1) will delete the last item drawn.
>
> It's in some way modeled after the indexing-scheme
> for lists in Python. If l were the list of items,
> clear(n') would delete l[:n] (n>0) and l[n:] (n<0)
> respectively.

While it is true that this would be like Python slicing syntax,
I think it is potentially too confusing for beginers
>
> Question nr. 1:
> Is this inutitively ok or would you
> prefer the converse. (e.g. clear(1) to
> delete the last item, clear(-1) the first one?)
>

neither.  See below.

> In a discussion with a friend about that topic
> there occurred the idea to have (additionally?)
> two names for those functions each with
> positive arguments only. (A bit similar to
> the solution for fill()). He proposed:
>
> clearfirst(n)
> clearlast(n)
>

I *much* prefer this.  For beginners, I also prefer to separate words
by "_", so I would write the above
clear_first(n)
clear_last(n)


[...]
> I don't know how this sounds for native english
> speaking people. Perhaps you have better proposals
> for naming these functions.
>

Well, as you know, I am not a native English speaker either.  But your
function names should be easily understood by non-native English
speaker as well, those with a limited grasp of the languge.
>
> So *any* comment would be highly appreciated.
> 
You'll get more from others, I'm sure.
André
> Gregor


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