So we don't have to have this entire discussion the next time this comes up, I've posted a summary here:
https://pythonchb.github.io/PythonListsSummaries/python_ideas/better_name.html Please feel free to link to that the next time :-) Better yet, contribute more summaries to the common issues that come up on this list. -CHB On Fri, Nov 29, 2019 at 9:32 PM Andrew Barnert via Python-ideas < python-ideas@python.org> wrote: > On Nov 29, 2019, at 02:42, Steven D'Aprano <st...@pearwood.info> wrote: > > > > Programming uses lots of initialisms, abbreviations and hybrid words, > > such as: > > > > os ram ssd dir json xml len chr EOF I/O rlcompleter pprint sqlite > > > > etc, and loads is not particularly worse than the rest. > > I agree with your sentiment; and I’m -1 on the change, but it’s worth > pointing out that the amount of abbreviation and portmanteuing that’s > considered appropriate has changed over the years. The names Guido gave > things in 1991 aren’t necessarily the names he’d come up with today; if he > were inventing `loads` 28 years later, I think he would have called it > `load_string`. And, if not, he would have changed his mind during the > bikeshedding process when 80% of the people paying attention argued against > it. > > It’s not even that people have decided that reading code is more important > than writing it (or that the novice learning curve matters), After all, > sometimes brevity is better for reading, too. So there’s still a balance. > It’s just that the balance in the 70s was based on reading and writing on > slow teletypes where you had to fit your program into a few KB, while now > you have all the screen space and storage you could want and instantaneous > auto-complete and so on, so the cost of longer names is a lot lower. And, > while Python isn’t quite _that_ old, the balance in Python 0.9 was about > fitting in with C in a Unix-ish system, while now Python is about being > good for everything from scripts to servers. That’s why we usually get > names like `get_current_loop` today instead of names like `getcwd`. (But > not always—e.g., new additions to `math` that wrap or emulate `math.h` > functions still get C-style names.) > _______________________________________________ > Python-ideas mailing list -- python-ideas@python.org > To unsubscribe send an email to python-ideas-le...@python.org > https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-ideas.python.org/ > Message archived at > https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/message/OBBXT7AFGYGLOISCI2OJUNREBXJF724A/ > Code of Conduct: http://python.org/psf/codeofconduct/ > -- Christopher Barker, PhD Python Language Consulting - Teaching - Scientific Software Development - Desktop GUI and Web Development - wxPython, numpy, scipy, Cython
_______________________________________________ Python-ideas mailing list -- python-ideas@python.org To unsubscribe send an email to python-ideas-le...@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-ideas.python.org/ Message archived at https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/message/G2IQKSRUUFAY6MOBCHQN2ILN47WCSUHR/ Code of Conduct: http://python.org/psf/codeofconduct/
