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From: Robert A Duff <bobduff@shell01.TheWorld.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: _Type vs no _Type
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:15:20 -0400
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Date: 2010-11-05T13:15:20-04:00
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Jeffrey Carter <spam.jrcarter.not@spam.not.acm.org> writes:

> Here is the core of the _Type argument: It helps avoid thinking.

It avoids thinking about one mundane aspect of the program.
The argument is: save your "thinking" for more important things.

>... Given a
> problem, a coder sits down and starts writing code; a S/W engineer
> thinks about the problem.

You're getting perilously close to an ad-hominem.  I don't much
like the "_Type" convention, either, but I'm not going to
accuse people who disagree of being less than competent.

At AdaCore, I never, ever think about how many blanks to
indent by.  There is an AdaCore law that it's 3, and I
obey that law without thinking (and have my editor do
it automatically).  I'd prefer 4, myself, but getting
creative at this level is a Bad Thing.

And calling oneself "engineer" doesn't make one better at
making software.

>...Thinking is thus the defining characteristic
> of the S/W engineer, and attempting to avoid thinking the antithesis of
> S/W engineering.

That doesn't follow -- the fact that I avoid thinking about
"3 blanks to indent" doesn't mean I avoid thinking.
Likewise, people who avoid thinking by using "_Type"
do not avoid thinking altogether.

There are some cases where it is very wrong to come up
with "meaningful" names.  In particular, a parameter
of a general-purpose subprogram, when named notation
is inappropriate.  In such a case, a single-letter
name, or (a variation on) the type name, is exactly
right.

- Bob