From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 10ad19,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid10ad19,public X-Google-Thread: 1073c2,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid1073c2,public X-Google-Thread: 101deb,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid101deb,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 107a89,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid107a89,public X-Google-Thread: 10a146,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid10a146,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-25 19:22:24 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!easynews!sjc-peer.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!iad-read.news.verio.net.POSTED!kilgallen From: Kilgallen@eisner.decus.org.nospam (Larry Kilgallen) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.awk,comp.lang.clarion,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.pl1,comp.lang.vrml Subject: Re: Long names are doom ? Message-ID: References: <3B0DBD4A.82943473@my-deja.net> <3B0DD011.88FCD00E@acm.org> <9ekth1$49o$1@nnrp1.phx.gblx.net> Organization: LJK Software Date: 25 May 2001 07:23:01 -0500 NNTP-Posting-Host: 216.44.122.34 X-Complaints-To: abuse@verio.net X-Trace: iad-read.news.verio.net 990789784 216.44.122.34 (Fri, 25 May 2001 11:23:04 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 11:23:04 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:7794 comp.lang.awk:2608 comp.lang.clarion:20384 comp.lang.java.programmer:70950 comp.lang.pl1:647 comp.lang.vrml:3333 Date: 2001-05-25T07:23:01-05:00 List-Id: In article <9ekth1$49o$1@nnrp1.phx.gblx.net>, Jim Monty writes: > Would you be "less memorable" if you were > > Patricia_Shanahan@Association_of_Computing_Machinery.Organization > > instead of simply > > pats@acm.org? "Shanahan" is not particularly meaningful to me, so whether "pats" is a "Shanahan" or a "Shannon" or a "Smith" does not particularly help me understand the meaning of a message. Identifiers in programs are (should be) different, and which of many possible original words was reduced to make a particular abbreviation is important. I can see how people might feel abbreviations are important in tiny programs, but when you get up beyond 200,000 source lines of code (where one begins to choose Ada) understanding the name of a particular subprogram can be a bit tougher. > Easily ninety percent of all Web users have no idea what any of > the abbreviations http, www, com, org, etc. stand for. But does > that make it harder for them to remember the URL www.mtv.com? > Imagine a typical URL spelled out in its entirety. It would be > absurdly long and unwieldy! A guiding principle of Ada is that programs are written for the convenience of the reader rather than the author. Thus typing effort is not important compared to clarity.