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,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: =?utf-8?Q?Yannick_Duch=C3=AAne_=28Hibou57?= =?utf-8?Q?=29?= Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Vocabulary matter: Component vs Element vs Item Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 20:42:21 +0200 Organization: Ada @ Home Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: ds8m8HfAx594C0h4s/JFyA.user.speranza.aioe.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-Printable X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org User-Agent: Opera Mail/12.16 (Linux) X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:16526 Date: 2013-07-26T20:42:21+02:00 List-Id: Le Fri, 26 Jul 2013 09:59:46 +0200, Simon Wright a = = =C3=A9crit: > I don't think anyone should take the design choices made in the BCs in= > 1998 as being in any way definitive. I didn't choose Item/Elem, and I > suspect that a lot more effort went into Ada.Containers naming > conventions (they were at least reviewed by the ARG!). > > And the BCs are definitely in maintenance now! Don't worry for that, I know ;) There is another common use of Item, which is with menus. Since very lon= g, = =E2=80=9CMenu item=E2=80=9D is used constantly for menu entries. This on= e contradicts or = not? I feel it do, as according to the previous ideas, it should be name= d = Menu Element. Just stay with and favour Ada's wording if others = contradicts with it's own wording. Le Fri, 26 Jul 2013 19:24:55 +0200, Charles H. Sampson = a =C3=A9crit: > As a result, I don't feel competent to comment on any technical > issues here, even from a historical perspective. However, I don't see > that "component", "element" and "item" are at all related in plain > English. I suspect that if you asked any reasonably literate person, > excluding computer geeks but not scientists, to distinguish between > these words, the likely response would be, Huh?" Sorry, not my native tong. So I just checked Merriam Webster, and = extracted the parts looking the most relevant for the topic=E2=80=A6 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/element 2. a constituent part 2-C. a distinct group within a larger group or community 2-F. a distinct part of a composite device http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/item 1. a distinct part in an enumeration, account, or series : article 4. a separate piece of news or information http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/component 1. a constituent part : ingredient 2-A. any one of the vector terms added to form a vector sum or resultant= 2-B. a coordinate of a vector; also : either member of an ordered pair o= f = numbers 2-F of Element seems to suggest it may be a synonym of Component. But I = = believe many software design literature, including UML, prefers Componen= t = instead of Element for that. Would be nice if there were some explanation somewhere, about how the RM= = choose to assign their signification to Item and Element. Whether the = thing is named from the point of view of whom send or whom receive the = thing, is probably important too. You hardly follow a convention if you = = don't understand it :-D -- = =E2=80=9CSyntactic sugar causes cancer of the semi-colons.=E2=80=9D [1] =E2=80=9CStructured Programming supports the law of the excluded muddle.= =E2=80=9D [1] [1]: Epigrams on Programming =E2=80=94 Alan J. =E2=80=94 P. Yale Univers= ity