[rules-dev] accumulate to acc - Don't call it acc(umulate)

[Geoffrey De Smet]

Op 20-08-11 00:42, Mark Proctor schreef:
> On 19/08/2011 12:42, Geoffrey De Smet wrote:
>> "Good programmers appreciate what you put in,
>> Great programmers appreciate what you leave out "
>>     -- Josh Bloch
>>
>> I also believe that having 2 accumulates is just going to bring
>> confusion and complexity.
> Over time we'll deprecate the old accumulate. But we must evolve the
> language to improve it, it's not easier as there is no one to copy for
> this, it's virgin territory. That means we can't be afraid to try
> things, and change them if think we can improve it.
>
> Mark
I am not against adding new features to the language. (*)
But don't call it "acc" or "accumulate", that will just confuse everyone.

Call it "gather", collect, hoard, amass, pileUp, cumulate, conglomerate, 
... anything but accumulate or an abbreviation.
   http://www.thefreedictionary.com/accumulate

*Using the same term for 2 different things greatly disrupts 
communication (= API, manual, code readability, ...).*
The 2 WorkingMemory (= same term for 2 different things) are still 
causing confusion:
   org.drools.WorkingMemory
   org.drools.runtime.rule.WorkingMemory
You can even mix them in your code (several planner examples did that 
for a couple of years before I noticed it).
Let's investigate ways to clean that up first? For example: move the old 
one to drools-core-legacy-api already, before we completely remove it.

With kind regards,
Geoffrey De Smet



(*) I do believe we need a more future proof system of adding keywords 
and features. I see 2 alternatives:
A) Specify a drlModel version in the DRL. This allows backwards 
incompatible changes between drlModel versions, but new drools jars 
should still support the last 3 drlModel versions. This is similar to:
-- pom.xml's <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
B) Find a way to reserve keywords.
-- By having to import the keywords?
     import keyword org.drools.parser.acc; // I can now use acc in my rules
     import keyword org.drools.parser.thenElse; // I can now use 
thenElse in my rules
-- By prefixing the keywords with a reserved character.
    For example: @acc, @thenElse or #acc, #thenElse
-- Like Ceylon, by layout (probably not possible): "Note also that 
annotations like doc, by, see, and deprecated aren't keywords. They're 
just ordinary identifiers. The same is true for annotations which are 
part of the language definition: abstract, variable, shared, formal, 
actual, and friends. On the other hand, void is a keyword. "

-- 


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