[GAP Forum] "IsRationalNumber" as synonym for "IsRat"

[kroeker]

Dear Alexander, dear GAP forum,


it is ok to have short names but also consider that in software 
engineering  it is known
that variable and function names should  be as descriptive as possible
(and at the same time not too long of course).

My intention is not to customize my personal use but to improve the 
usability and code readability for everybody.
So I can't see any serious arguments against introducing the synonym 
"IsRationalNumber" for now.


Best,


Jakob


Am 22.02.2012 23:13, schrieb Alexander Konovalov:
> Dear Jakob, dear GAP Forum,
>
> On 21 Feb 2012, at 19:04, kroeker wrote:
>
>> Dear GAP-developers,
>>
>> I do not really like the function name  "IsRat" for the check if an 
>> object is a rational number
>> and suggest to introduce the synonym "IsRationalNumber" :
>>   DeclareSynonym("IsRationalNumber",IsRat);
>>
>> What is your opinion?
>>
>> Jakob
> GAP as a number of short names for such common categories like e.g. 
> `IsInt', `IsPosInt', `IsCyc',
> `IsBool', `IsFFE', `IsChar', `IsPerm' etc., so to my mind `IsRat' fits 
> this naming scheme quite
> well. These are used in many method installations and having compact 
> names is quite handy.
>
> The page http://www.gap-system.org/Faq/Usage/usage1.html explains how 
> to customise GAP using the
> .gaprc file, so if you prefer this synonym for your personal use, you 
> may add this line there.
> Of course, any code using it will not work without this declaration.
>
> Best wishes,
> Alexander