Ala wrote:
>Dirk wrote:
>
>> How about considering the idea of "synonyms", though? Is
>> it unreasonable to have "unlink()" and "fdelete()" (or
>> whatever it is on Win32) mean the same thing?
>
>This brings back an idea I had a while ago. How about defining a module,
>that could be part of the standard distribution, that offered those
>shortcuts. So newbies could do something like
>
> use newbie;
>or
> use synonyms;
I fear this synonym approach may lead to the _worst_ of both worlds.
Newbies, looking at an expert's module, will need to know
the expert definitions in order to make sense of the code;
someone who usually writes code using unlink will have
to learn fdelete in order to make sense of someone else's module.
In other words, you're forced to learn *all* the synonyms.
Also, by creating synonyms, you may obscure the cases where
two functions have similar, but subtly different, effects;
people may mistake these for pure synonyms.
One thing I do wish, though: Some languages use "else if" and
some use "elseif" and others use "elsif". I always get these
mixed up. The meaning is obvious and unambiguous. I might
be tempted to allow synonyms in this case.
Chris
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