Hi all,
now, after having sent of the other email, I tried to analyse why I am
actually unhappy with what happened. It came out pretty simple:
"I was used to the old naming and menu positions"
furthermore, there was just right now an email on the user list about
"Where is that function gone" (in this case datastore query).
It highlights a couple of things, that we can summarize as "don't change
the "User API" without a clear announcement". But in detail:
- if we change names, then users may not found the function anymore
- if we change the menu positions of functions, then users may not found
them anymore
further:
- names should be descriptive
- names should adhere to standards (not necessarily to ArcGIS, but
sometimes...)
I also recognized the following:
- ESRI never changed names of function as long as I remember, except
maybe when they moved from 8.x to 9.x and got a complete new user interface
- ESRI is using function names that are not very descriptive all the
time, but they try to restrict it to one word - which describes the
action, e.g. "eliminate", "dissolve", "union", "spatial join".
- I actually do not aggree with some ESRI naming of functions, since the
technical standards (OGC SFS) use actually different names (union vs.
intersection, dissolve vs. union). But I guess the reason is that the
standards are younger than ArcInfo/GIS.
So, based on that I see a need for the next release notes (for 1.5.1) to
1) describe somewhere what functions have been renamed and moved (quite
a bit).
2) To introduce proper naming and location rules. And related to that I
think the location and naming of new functions need to be "approved" by
at least 3 people - and not changed anymore thereafter until a major
release ("X.X").
Any further opinions?
stefan
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