Re: procedure Make_File_Gone (Name : in String);

[Adam Beneschan <adam@irvine.com>]

On Jul 23, 2:08 pm, Simon Wright <si...@pushface.org> wrote:
> "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mail...@dmitry-kazakov.de> writes:
>
> > On Sat, 23 Jul 2011 19:05:02 +0000 (UTC), tmo...@acm.org wrote:
>
> >> I'm looking for a good name for such a routine, where "good" means
> >> short and clear to a maintenance programmer scanning the code.  Perhaps
> >> English doesn't have a nice way of making such an imperative->declarative
> >> phrase.
>
> >    procedure Delete_File (File : String; Existing : Boolean := True);
>
>    procedure Delete_File (File : String;
>                           Only_If_Existing : Boolean := True);

Or you could go the other way:

   procedure Delete_File (File : String;
                          OK_If_File_Doesnt_Exist : Boolean := False);

The parameter name is clunky.  Still, I think I'd slightly prefer
something along those lines because I tried to read a call that looks
like this:

   Delete_File (F, Only_If_Existing => False);

I'd be scratching my head trying to figure out what it meant.  It's
probably better to use names that mean nothing:

   Delete_File (F, Glarfspoogl => False);

than to use names that look like they're intended to convey meaning
but actually are just confusing.  The former at least will force
readers to go back and look at the documentation.  (I'm only half-
serious here.  I don't recommending using ridiculous names like
Glarfspoogl.)

                              -- Adam