Re: [boost] [filesystem] Function name changes

From: Vladimir Prus (vladimir_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-07-04 12:35:47

David Abrahams wrote:

> 
> on Fri Jul 04 2008, Vladimir Prus <vladimir-AT-codesourcery.com> wrote:
> 
>> Beman Dawes wrote:
>>
>>> David Abrahams wrote:
>>>> Beman Dawes wrote:
>>>>> David Abrahams wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> FWIW, though I think it's probably a good idea to use base_name as you
>>>>>> are suggesting, I was much less attached to the idea of using it to mean
>>>>>> what is currently called leaf() than I was opposed to the idea of using
>>>>>> it to mean something else, if you catch my drift :-)
>>>>> Ah! Understood.
>>>>>
>>>>>> So one other option that avoids the above issues (not that I'm pushing
>>>>>> this route) is to pick another name for what you currently call leaf().
>>>>> Let's say branch_path() is changed to parent_path(). That suggests a
>>>>> full set of names based on the parent/child decomposition of a path:
>>>>>
>>>>> * Change branch()    to parent_path()
>>>>> * Change leaf()      to child()
>>>>> * Change basename()  to child_prefix()
>>>>> * Change extension() to child_extension()
>>>>>
>>>>> At first glance, those names seem reasonable clear and self-consistent.
>>>>>
>>>>> What's your take on that set?
>>>> 
>>>> Well, "parent" describes a relationship between the path being operated
>>>> on and the result.  "Child," on the other hand, does not.  So that
>>>> doesn't work for me.  I would prefer "parent" and "filename."  I would
>>>> prefer "drop_extension" and "extension," although I rather liked
>>>> Volodya's "stem" suggestion.
>>> 
>>> I like "stem" too.
>>> 
>>> Trying to put that all together:
>>> 
>>> * Change branch()   to  parent_path()
>>> * Change leaf()     to  file_name()
>>
>> Why is "file" there? Path of "a/b/c" can refer to either file,
>> or directory. Does "file" bring undesired connotation that the
>> path refers to file?
> 
> Agreed.
> 
>>> * Change basename() to  stem()
>>> * extension()  remains  extension()
>>
>> 'stem' is linguistic term, whereas 'extension' is not. To be
>> consistent, it's better to use 'suffix', not 'extension'.
> 
> Yeah, but 'extension' is a file naming term.  Where we can, we should
> use accepted terminology from the domain.

As I've mentioned, "suffix" is also used in existing libraries.

>> Furthermore, I do think we need to pay attention to Qt's suffix
>> vs. completeSuffix distinction -- it seems useful one.
> 
> What is that?

        backup.tar.bz2

Here, you might want to look at either "top-level" file type -- ".bz2" here,
or at everything after first dot -- ".tar.bz2", depending on what you want
to do.

- Volodya