6 ms·
Unfortunately-Named Programming Terms
- ggchappell 12y agoYes, this is an issue. Couple of thoughts: (A) The second and third definitions of "key" are not different. We talk about "private key" and "public key". A key in this sense is information provided to a transformation algorithm to tell it how to do the transformation. If we do not wish others to be able to do the transformation, then we keep the key secret. The secrecy should not be part of the definition of "key". (B) What about key as in "sorting key"? That's a bit like definition 1, but not quite. (C) An issue that feels related to me is when all synonyms for a particular concept are defined as technical terms, and we run out of words to use. Say I want to talk about what "type of thing" something is. I can't use "type"; that means something very specific. So does "sort". So does "category". So does "class". I used to use "kind", but then somebody made a technical term out of that, too.[1] What's left? "Breed"? "Ilk"? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_%28type_theory%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_%28type_theory%29
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- aardshark 12y agoI don't agree with the 'difficult to google' label, because you can easily find relevant results on all of these terms through Google.
- jpzenger 12y agoMaybe if you know the right incantations to whisper to your search engine, but remember that beginners often won't. And even then, overloaded terms like "set" and "map" routinely yield bogus results for non-beginners too. The point is realizing you have to jump through these hoops, when Stockholm Syndrome may be preventing you from even noticing. See also https://twitter.com/dakami/status/593325912663326720 https://twitter.com/dakami/status/593325912663326720