On 15 September 2017 at 02:56, Mike Miller <python-...@mgmiller.net> wrote: > > On 2017-09-12 19:09, Nick Coghlan wrote: >> >> On 13 September 2017 at 02:01, Chris Barker - NOAA Federal >> <chris.bar...@noaa.gov> wrote: >>> >>> This really does match well with the record concept in databases, and >>> most >>> people are familiar with that. >> >> >> No, most people aren't familiar with that - they only become familiar >> with it *after* they've learned to program and learned what a database >> is. > > > Pretty sure he was talking about programmers, and they are introduced to the > concept early. Structs, objects with fields, random access files, > databases, etc. Lay-folks are familiar with "keeping records" as you > mention, but they are not the primary customer it seems.
Python is an incredibly common first programming language, so we need to keep folks with *zero* knowledge of programming jargon firmly in mind when designing new features. That isn't always the most important consideration, but it's always *a* consideration. And, as Stefan notes in his reply, we also need to keep *misleading* inferences in mind when we consider repurposing existing jargon for a new use case - what seems like an obviously intuitive connection based on our own individual experiences with a term may turn out to be extremely counterintuitive for someone with a different experience of the same term. In such cases, it can make sense to look for new *semantically neutral* terminology as the official glossary entry and API naming scheme, and rely on documentation to indicate that this is a realisation of a feature that goes by other names in other contexts. Cheers, Nick. -- Nick Coghlan | ncogh...@gmail.com | Brisbane, Australia _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
