> On Oct 12, 2015, at 8:35 PM, Alexis King <[email protected]> wrote: > > I’m not completely sold on `most`, but I’m close. I like that it’s terse and > fairly obvious in what it does. The obvious downside is that it’s a little > vague. The expression (most < lst) doesn’t read super well, IMO. > > I think passing a less-than? argument makes this function much closer > conceptually to `sort` than anything else, even if it’s really a `fold` in > reality. In my mind, this function semantically sorts a list and returns the > first element from the result. I think the name should reflect that. > > This is why names like “find-best” and “find-optimal” don’t quite sit with > me. They might be the best options—I haven’t found anything clearly better > yet—but these names express an intent that simply isn’t there. It would be > like calling `append-map` something like `explode` or `permute`: it might > describe how the behavior is used in 70% of cases, but it does a poor job of > explaining what the function actually does.
What intent that isn't there? I have my own use cases in mind though, so I might be not be seeing it. > In the same line of thought as `append-map`, the name `first-sort` has > crossed my mind, but this feels just as opaque. The name `first-by` is very > close, but it fails: that function has a meaning closer to `findf` to me, not > whatever this function is. To me, `first-by` doesn't seem like findf. To me it implies the same sort of first of a sorted list semantics, but without implying that it has to sort the whole list. That's why I like it almost as much as find-best. > Other names in the same vein are too wordy: `first-with-order`, > `first-of-sorted`... and none of those convey the meaning any better, anyway. > > So yes, at this point, the conversation may be little more than bikeshedding. > It might be best to just pick one of the better solutions and roll with it. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Racket Users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
