[swift-evolution] SE-0025: Scoped Access Level, next steps

[Andrey Tarantsov]

> Sure, but is that worth 7 to 9 extra characters at every single use site for something that's actually pretty common?

Yes.

These are special cases — both file-private and module-private is something that is fairly unusual and should stick out a bit, so the length helps here. (Unless you're writing your entire app in module-private mode, in which case you won't use the modifier at all.)

I think Chris has explicitly stated that brevity for the sake of typing less is not a goal of Swift. There's software like Keyboard Maestro that I really recommend when typing code; just assign keyboard shortcuts (GW-BASIC-style) to the common keywords, and the length won't matter. 

> We call the type `Int32`, not `SignedIntegerBetweenNegative2ToThe31stPowerAnd2ToThe31stPowerMinus1`

Perhaps the new modifiers look worse to you than to me. "fileprivate var" reads just fine to my ears, exactly the right balance of length and brevity, and "file var" invokes wrong associations in my head, akin to being a static var, and generally feels way too short.

A.