[darcs-users] darcs patch: add "parallel pairs" (and 6 more)

Peter B. West lists at pbw.id.au
Sun Sep 20 11:22:48 UTC 2009


On 19/09/2009, at 6:09 PM, Jason Dagit wrote:

>
>
> On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 8:31 AM, Peter B. West <lists at pbw.id.au>  
> wrote:
>
>
> I'm a mere user of darcs, waiting for the day when I can  
> unreservedly recommend it for all SCM users, but...
>
> CamelCase is one of my pet loathings. It dramatically impacts  
> readability in long names, consequently discouraging their use. That  
> much, I think, is unexceptionable.
>
> If you would argue against long names, fair enough.
>
> IMO, CamelCase has a general negative impact on readability. I have  
> heard the argument that it draws the eye to the functions and  
> variables, which I take to support my point.
>
> Hi Don,
>
> CamelCase is the defacto standard in the Haskell Community.  For  
> example, the Haskell Prelude uses CamelCase instead of other  
> conventions.  In the Darcs project we currently use several styles  
> and this creates confusion and generates discussions like this one.   
> Without reiterating the rationale, the majority of the Darcs  
> developers feel that sticking with one convention, camaleCase in  
> this context, is beneficial.
>
> I'm sorry this convention is not your favorite, but please realize  
> we would like to follow the style guidelines of the larger Haskell  
> Community when we can.
>
> When you say that it draws the eyes to functions and variables, what  
> argument are you referring too?  I find the psychology of  
> programming to be an interesting topic so if you know of a research  
> paper about this I would like to read it.  Finally, since Haskell is  
> emphasizes functions and named values (variables rarely exist in  
> Haskell), it is not clear to me how CamelCase is a detriment here.   
> Do you think you could explain what you mean?
>
> Thanks,
> Jason


I don't hack Haskell, so there's no need to concern yourself with my  
attitude to the code. The comment about the "flagging" effect came in  
a previous discussion; it is not supported by any studies.

Peter



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