[swift-evolution] [Review] SE-0023 API Design Guidelines

[Charles Kissinger]

> On Jan 23, 2016, at 10:39 PM, Douglas Gregor <dgregor at apple.com> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> On Jan 22, 2016, at 9:34 PM, Charles Kissinger <crk at akkyra.com <mailto:crk at akkyra.com>> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> On Jan 22, 2016, at 3:59 PM, Trent Nadeau via swift-evolution <swift-evolution at swift.org <mailto:swift-evolution at swift.org>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Under "Follow case conventions", how should acronyms (like "HTML") be handled: HTMLElement or HtmlElement?
>> 
>> I would certainly prefer the second style. Unless the acronym comes at the end of the identifier, it is more readable when only the first letter of the acronym is uppercase, IMO. Otherwise the acronym merges with the capitalized first letter of the following word.  
>> 
>> Using all caps for acronyms also doesn’t work very well at the start of a variable name, leading to:
>> 
>> var hTMLElement = HTMLElement()
>> 
>> versus:
>> 
>> var htmlElement = HtmlElement()
> 
> Interesting. For me, it feels like the acronym should should up in ALLCAPS or nocaps; never with just a Leadingcap. For example:
> 
> 	var htmlElement = HTMLElement()
> 

I guess I just don’t like my function calls SHOUTing at me. :-)

The leading-caps-for-acronyms style might not be particularly popular. The most prominent use I’m aware of is in the .NET frameworks.

This discussion of acronyms does raise a different issue, though. I would suggest expanding the “Avoid abbreviations” section of the API Design Guidelines a bit to make a clear distinction between truncating words just to shorten identifiers (bad) and using common acronyms (good). You don’t want people thinking they’re being advised to do this:

var hyperTextMarkupLanguageElement = HyperTextMarkupLanguageElement()

> I find that this form keeps acronym feeling like an acronym, rather than looking like a strange (possibly abbreviated) word.

But an acronym *is* a strange, abbreviated word. ;-)

—CK

> 	- Doug
>> 
>> --CK
>> 
>>> On Fri, Jan 22, 2016 at 4:02 PM, Douglas Gregor via swift-evolution <swift-evolution at swift.org <mailto:swift-evolution at swift.org>> wrote:
>>> Hello Swift community,
>>> 
>>> The review of SE-0023"API Design Guidelines" begins now and runs through January 31, 2016. The proposal is available here:
>>> 
>>> https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/proposals/0023-api-guidelines.md <https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/proposals/0023-api-guidelines.md>
>>> Reviews are an important part of the Swift evolution process. All reviews should be sent to the swift-evolution mailing list at
>>> 
>>> https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution <https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution>
>>> or, if you would like to keep your feedback private, directly to the review manager. When replying, please try to keep the proposal link at the top of the message:
>>> 
>>> Proposal link:
>>> 
>>> https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/proposals/0023-api-guidelines.md <https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/proposals/0023-api-guidelines.md>
>>> Reply text
>>> 
>>> Other replies
>>>  <https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution#what-goes-into-a-review-1>What goes into a review?
>>> 
>>> The goal of the review process is to improve the proposal under review through constructive criticism and, eventually, determine the direction of Swift. When writing your review, here are some questions you might want to answer in your review:
>>> 
>>> What is your evaluation of the proposal?
>>> Is the problem being addressed significant enough to warrant a change to Swift?
>>> Does this proposal fit well with the feel and direction of Swift?
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>>> More information about the Swift evolution process is available at
>>> 
>>> https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/process.md <https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/process.md>
>>> Thank you,
>>> 
>>> -Doug Gregor
>>> 
>>> Review Manager
>>> 
>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> Trent Nadeau
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