Re: Glib::filename_(to|from)_unicode (naming issues)

["A. Pagaltzis" <pagaltzis gmx de>]

* Torsten Schoenfeld <kaffeetisch web de> [2004-01-09 22:13]:
> While Marc has probably convinced most of us that the colon
> syntax would be the correct way of doing things, I do think
> that this is a rather academic "correct".

It might be academic in a world in which only Gtk2-Perl existed.

> The important question is what the gtk2-perl-xs users expect.

Which? The ones who come to Perl for having the Gtk2 bindings, or
the ones who come to the Gtk2 bindings for being Perl?

> I doubt that the function <-> method distinction is relevant to
> them.

Obviously you mean the users who come to Perl for having the Gtk2
bindings, because the others have already been exposed to this
distinction.

> For all they know and learned from Gtk and Gtk2, all calls to
> things in this module use the arrow syntax.

You're arguing for bindings consistent with themselves; that
would be Gtk2ish, but not Perlish.

In reality, beginners will soon want to reach beyond the confines
of using just Gtk2 modules and will then run across the
difference anyway.  At that point they'll be doubly confused
because the arrow syntax they were used to sometimes works and
sometimes breaks.  I am not just being overly dramatic; I recall
a number of occasions where people mentioned on PerlMonks that
they had been confused about this when they started out with
Perl.

It'll serve anyone writing Perl well to know at least a modicum
of Perl. To that end the sooner they pick up the existence and
meaning of a difference between the arrow and the double colon
syntax, the better.  Making Gtk2 Gtk2ish instead of Perlish will
only hamper their progress.

> So, in this case, I think consistency weighs way more than
> correctness.

This is false consistency and a meme that needs to die a swift
death.  True consistency is to be consistent with Perl
programming at large.

-- 
Regards,
Aristotle
 
"If you can't laugh at yourself, you don't take life seriously enough."