Re: Vocabulary matter: Component vs Element vs Item

[Eryndlia Mavourneen <eryndlia@gmail.com>]

On Monday, July 29, 2013 5:30:46 PM UTC-5, Hibou57 (Yannick Duchêne) wrote> Le Mon, 29 Jul 2013 22:25:19 +0200, Eryndlia Mavourneen  
> <eryndlia@gmail.com> a écrit:
> 
> > In my own experience:
> >
> > 1) "Element" is one of a collection of the same or similar type of  
> > thing, as in an array.  We have the chemical elements, too, which are  
> > all chemically irreducible pieces of matter.
> >
> > 2) "Component" is a member of a construct of (possibly) differing types  
> > of things.  I can have a component of a TV set, The Booch Components, or  
> > a record.
> >
> > 3) "Item" is a selection -- could be from a menu or not.  In a loop, the  
> > current constant is an item, regardless of whether it is an element, a  
> > selection from a container, or eggs and bacon.
> >
> > -- Eryndlia (KK1T)
> 
> Your comment on Item related to loop, is clever and interesting.
> 
> About point #1, how do you relate it to #3? Do you feel as I do it's a  
> matter of point of view? An item for the client adding something to a  
> container, and is an element for the container, thus the Element_Type  
> instead of Item_Type? I was interested in the question in a more general  
> way than containers (the same question rise in other patterns too), this  
> is just that the case of containers speaks easily and the Ada standard  
> containers use this naming convention.

Much of meaning (semantics) is point-of-view.  If you harm me, then it effects me in ways you likely never considered.  You may not know of my child, my varied business interests, acquaintances, etc.  I do not know the rationale for using the word "element" to describe a construct within the container, except that, from the point-of-view of the container, an element is irreducible and is one of many structurally similar entities within that container.

Also, don't forget that I was using "item" to mean a selection of some kind.  From the loop's point-of-view, the element of the container being examined *is* the item to be processed.

-- Eryndlia (KK1T)