From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Names are not descriptions; descriptions are not names Date: Fri, 12 May 2023 22:02:17 +0200 Message-ID: <871qjl8fjc.fsf@web.de> References: <3b4a24a3-2d12-16d3-d905-7794ed4269b1@alphapapa.net> <9ea14907-0327-9e6d-6289-0529a82316e7@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="=-=-="; micalg=pgp-sha256; protocol="application/pgp-signature" Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="25417"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: mu4e 1.10.2; emacs 29.0.90 Cc: Adam Porter , emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Jim Porter Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Fri May 12 22:25:08 2023 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1pxZK7-0006QA-Gx for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Fri, 12 May 2023 22:25:07 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pxZJJ-0004cF-Gd; Fri, 12 May 2023 16:24:17 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pxZJH-0004c7-WB for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 12 May 2023 16:24:16 -0400 Original-Received: from mout.web.de ([212.227.15.14]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pxZJG-0004Lz-59 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 12 May 2023 16:24:15 -0400 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=web.de; s=s29768273; t=1683923042; i=arne_bab@web.de; bh=gTwYejYtwsVGeQhLEptyNgzZoE5p7NyjFkPHLYoctSY=; h=X-UI-Sender-Class:References:From:To:Cc:Subject:Date:In-reply-to; b=K3yNkD8qvucgYNQNg4BKW3sDIlc8I3SrYjiikgUjkyGTzjOD3ZJdNIjGZJHv8mh8O qX8jbkHk2e7OzxlS2MBoG+M4po9PAPhlouRIWCdbsO5wQiCeKageWY+c02zzXocBX9 vWpvTcJIIdBMT0XiCYwi7t3g00auomKXzAeUR+k11E+H0M1iSPKVYluuanFobodKmp QFfVkoMHWpoBkWVT+u0/eNE7rV/IuWjoArMRr9cEQWPaHpPMEAGAtrDTcDH/IJfP4E Tt1AFQQjzV0GWIPEvJTSb52B4vSvkwMaPyXPJ8K764j4pTMqD4QpZv3Lttw0kPaGse bRXMyDX0DuO4w== X-UI-Sender-Class: 814a7b36-bfc1-4dae-8640-3722d8ec6cd6 Original-Received: from fluss ([84.165.25.222]) by smtp.web.de (mrweb006 [213.165.67.108]) with ESMTPSA (Nemesis) id 1MPKB7-1pYe2Z1BLZ-00PPlN; Fri, 12 May 2023 22:24:02 +0200 In-reply-to: <9ea14907-0327-9e6d-6289-0529a82316e7@gmail.com> X-Provags-ID: V03:K1:dN5fZDypbhj1NXOZq4AB6sXHXFJthZzVTN7n1w3rYZEZhT9RQz8 sc5MfId1W8Gjm315Yi5FHCjvxr6u9tcfQxA24iSf3tEL15B9m2L2Z7c8Zd3WhGkewQUY1Hx Z3jGvcaMsSfosv7Dc+5sh9id3Nf+mQgVF37y1s0Q9y3DbsUocvF4tNWq7eB2ISuqeCMd/ej ZjzbTMjsQvW3qgk9AgZNg== UI-OutboundReport: notjunk:1;M01:P0:PMbfoKAJur4=;bm13UHcBdEi/ZFzPxb6Y/riukvw puTLmJZE531luYKmWa6EPnxMn1E1HP4if8390O9pIaiZYRKRft916kI0xZBGTPrpvAvdPFzTY ytxcTH1oBywlg7cxV74K/yv6B3IKDaC4j2spZOkiudKvDZfCz1eTyMn+5kkJC1mJzlbLiJzRV Ar2pw4REka40Gu4AX/T0OYadtUhiJApkouiJmazMIvppNcMiBfDAegGN6YKpKqDe7G77OI+wF AHRYm/wZBEJqOtsRfaGh2Gwjry9pxqeFYn8vPCClR1waPmnMAgKGcqd7x/9Z4EG5vChUNjFZ+ UN2Rkbm/QvwqPEBQ+pI9VzfZvjtjB/blnOkocIRYqL0el6u0hbp+IEO5yIC1eRtUJEC/fKLRI RLz5udfn+xiEiaem82lkfFMsRJu7QID0zSDynqKLi+Bthi+rpzrtVjDRIDfsRuKIMZTJX4oez erA+nyRuBLDsKSBPvGnncBd+5+v42YJtirVNeEH3wsTZtKdXR+9GLWOSlzVoKlczw22oLEhEx 5lI5ndXGNtHHra4srK7cLwsmjP2t3EybAiaVwpbCsuyrpubbETfp8ktVFa8ndkS5MWQwX4h1/ XO6hcYEOx3hZzq/rqtcBYEr7COR5dZCBVt3Q8oKthIU6VLZJavwk2tP6QV+uzkEo2UrEQ0VKB 4m70UAH12fRzgaWSDb25Isy3D2vALajJZD6vJI2ruLrV3aSiKYoa9ZlYX8/rT/NeUqM7tzTGy iV9f7kDfWmSop20NzvN+GbpLpH++wbSAjaFc0unsI/LpH6vs4irWeMNxrXYC5mRcTdTzxjRW Received-SPF: pass client-ip=212.227.15.14; envelope-from=arne_bab@web.de; helo=mout.web.de X-Spam_score_int: -27 X-Spam_score: -2.8 X-Spam_bar: -- X-Spam_report: (-2.8 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, DKIM_SIGNED=0.1, DKIM_VALID=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_AU=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_EF=-0.1, FREEMAIL_FROM=0.001, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW=-0.7, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_H2=-0.001, SPF_HELO_NONE=0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001, T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE=-0.01 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no X-Spam_action: no action X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:306096 Archived-At: --=-=-= Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Jim Porter writes: > On 5/11/2023 9:01 PM, Adam Porter wrote: >> And by burdening the name with a responsibility it cannot bear, the >> name suffers, the package suffers, and ultimately, the user suffers. >> The "descriptive" name is not memorable; the user likely forgets what >> it's called a few weeks after installing and configuring it... > > Probably my favorite project name in existence is "pacman", Arch's > package manager. If I didn't know about it and you asked me to guess > what it did, I'm sure I'd say, "It lets you play Pac-man," but once I > know it's a package manager, the name makes perfect sense and I can > easily remember it. That name is descriptive, but unique enough to latch onto memory. And you can discover it if you remember "something about packages", so you type pac on the shell. > When I'm looking for a package on ELPA (or built into Emacs) to do > XYZ, I don't generally consult the name at all, and instead > read/search the description or the manual. About the only time I look > at the name is if I'm searching for a major mode of a programming > language, which is almost always "lang-mode". I fulltext-search the package listing. M-x package-list-packages C-s C-s (repeat) I don=E2=80=99t have time to read all the one-line descriptions. And I like having somewhat descriptive names. Try to remember how to open a PDF on the command-line. Gnome: evince =E2=80= =94 it took me months to remember that. KDE: kpdf. It once was. Now it=E2=80=99s okular. That=E2=80=99s still somewhat evocative of seeing something, so bet= ter than evince, but I preferred kpdf. And for kwrite it is obvious what it does. Same for gedit =E2=80=94 I never forgot gedit, even though I use it rarely. If I=E2=80=99m not yet fully awake in the morning when I get up to = make the lunchboxes for the kids, I can still remember gedit. I can also remember icecat, because that=E2=80=99s like firefox. And lftp still works.= But audacity I have to search when I didn=E2=80=99t use it for a while. Same for clementine and even worse "whatever is the default image viewer" (no, I really don=E2=80=99t know; doesn=E2=80=99t help that the name is not in the= program listing ...) =E2=80=94 and don=E2=80=99t ask me to remember xdg-open or M-x browse-url-xdg-open =E2=80=94 it always takes me several tries to remember = the correct command, and that=E2=80=99s with ido-completion in the commands. Or worse: the advanced video-editor that=E2=80=99s not kdenlive. Though naming with something else than the most obvious description becomes important once there is more than one package for the same task. I often use amx to search for something: M-x org- And all in all there=E2=80=99s an old truth: naming is hard. While a fixed = rule like "name not description not name" can help to avoid the trap of thinking that the name *must* be a description, I think it is too simplistic to steer the process of finding a good name. Best wishes, Arne =2D-=20 Unpolitisch sein hei=C3=9Ft politisch sein, ohne es zu merken. draketo.de --=-=-= Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQJEBAEBCAAuFiEE801qEjXQSQPNItXAE++NRSQDw+sFAmReoFcQHGFybmVfYmFi QHdlYi5kZQAKCRAT741FJAPD6zaND/42JQHoXi2r6rSergHgwXvA8BYbL5xZbAVH liCnylNHsMFW5lEbpx7BPy45+s3u4E12CkkPCf4dzZkkjQfUbpqkqIxovBWjZXFy /sar1KhBytSNzDe1LVnnn5j/4iEI299ATW5T6chjGGM9CgXjuZe0Em0z4328YkWN vh033JlSVTwocroalttUtFSLra0ptRph6LIhKKcw+KFPLWiDZZYRAUmThFl8UUBs D9h6hqvy/h+cxUUfgyPj3OI1+D3rjOkElLWrpUFQabSuMnNZIWZGejMtjPegV3Gd 8cUmbX/qJT12SGrAiUw/v0jgv6r2G9HWasnDwBzAiRAkjydhraWCQHXjSOZGxvJb PgQgQjU4Ks29B7UMQmjZo+RElE2kOM3cTxQDUw4C/xAa/mOSYEf5KeKL7xfUOo3v 9KSavL3NfBNvVdYJRh6ay144I+TQQ9xES+iRYAHm2PvkSebjoM7ns81FTXwfX56G ejb9c1bKu1BGeeV0yTB0QgEGZ1J94N9R2+t9l8NdDP9xPoWwFnUAgV6fBYNtx+LU NHuLhv3KHofJbmnyFPOqDODzQFZy6O5cGXfLHRCLaZrVT1eplADMFZ4IOwe5+1gr 8SJDmGcYes3gwSFRJJ9bMFfFAlDRYG7+r5xRVMkqK3RE10loITqgCmLNXgDLU7I1 M2r/2HrDe4jEBAEBCAAuFiEE3Si95tmHXKvOSosd3M8NswvBBUgFAmReoFcQHGFy bmVfYmFiQHdlYi5kZQAKCRDczw2zC8EFSAHMA/9LuPb9bPC0KNJ67bkEzyFjHQrY XzC/Di0WhX4yrE7qOHe/iuC4ltkDZHT9JHkWscMTIyGJjixS41EumgG6+EO81Ozm yGVpnVlKhQPJrvqKMAnqVkbFVSCeYCFDhgXp3mJ3vEIuiOfrqJ9n5//GSXiMViMK 6XCcg81P3WcxVWbD1A== =UK92 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-=-=--