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[perl #131685] Rename utf8::is_utf8() (and other functions)

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From:
Father Chrysostomos via RT
Date:
July 11, 2017 17:41
Subject:
[perl #131685] Rename utf8::is_utf8() (and other functions)
Message ID:
rt-4.0.24-10895-1499794897-1753.131685-15-0@perl.org
On Tue, 11 Jul 2017 00:55:51 -0700, davem wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 12:45:48PM -0400, Sawyer X wrote:
> > Does anyone have any comments on this? Tony, Dave, Zefram? *Karl*? :)
> 
> My opinion on this sort of proposal (and it's an opinion which has gotten
> stronger over time (*)) is rarely/never to add a new alias name to an
> existing function.
> 
> Alias names just increase the cognitive load. If the old names were
> confusing, having more names will just increase the confusion.
> 
> Before, you would have to remember that a particular function foo() is
> badly named and doesn't do what you might expect it to do, based solely on
> the name.
> 
> Afterwards, you have to remember that that are two functions foo() and
> bar(), one is deprecated (which one?), one is badly named (which one?),
> but they both do the same thing (Or do they? Sigh. Let's check the
> documentation one more time).
> 
> Life is now harder.
> 
> (*) My opinion firmed over AvFILL(). It was a weird name, but I was used to
> it. Now I can never remember what the new alias is called (just looked
> it up - av_top_index()). In hindsight, I would have voted against adding
> av_top_index.

I agree with everything you have said.  I brought up the same objection when this proposal was first put forward, but I thought I had lost the debate.  Well, at least there are two of us now. :-)

-- 

Father Chrysostomos


---
via perlbug:  queue: perl5 status: open
https://rt.perl.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=131685

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