[swift-evolution] [Review] SE-0006 Apply API Guidelines to the Standard Library

[Dave Abrahams]

on Tue Jan 26 2016, Guillaume Lessard <swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:

>> On 27 janv. 2016, at 00:07, Dave Abrahams via swift-evolution
>> <swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Does anybody on this list feel that "precondition" is too inaccessible?
>
> I don’t, but I do like “require”. Unlike “precondition”, “require” is
> straightforward language. 

...which is why I originally requested the change.

> That particular use of “precondition” isn’t necessarily
> “pre”-anything; nothing prevents anyone from sticking a precondition()
> call just before returning from a function; then it becomes a weird
> misnomer.

Sort of, sort of not.  It happens that sometimes you can't tell that the
precondition is violated until sometime late in the function.  So it may
be a surprising place to see the word "precondition," but it still can
be a precondition check.

> I am skeptical of “term of art” as a justification, because it is
> nearly a synonym of “jargon”, and that is not a good thing.

It *is* a synonym for "jargon," which is neither a good nor a bad thing.
Jargon exists for a reason: to allow us to communicate precisely about
topics in specialized domains.  Can you imagine where we'd be if doctors
couldn't use medical jargon to describe symptoms and procedures?

-- 
-Dave