[Python-Dev] Re: PEP 246: LiskovViolation as a name (original) (raw)

Skip Montanaro skip at pobox.com
Wed Jan 12 21:03:30 CET 2005 

Michael> This must be one of those cases where I am mislead by my
Michael> background...  I thought of Liskov substitution principle as a
Michael> piece of basic CS background that everyone learned in school
Michael> (or from the net, or wherever they learned
Michael> programming). Clearly, that's not true.

Note that some us were long out of school by the time Barbara Liskov first published the idea (in 1988 according to http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?LiskovSubstitutionPrinciple). Also, since it pertains to OO programming it was probably not taught widely until the mid-90s. That means a fair number of people will have never heard about it.

Michael> Guido writes:
>> How about SubstitutabilityError?

I don't think that's any better. At the very least, people can Google for "Liskov violation" to educate themselves. I'm not sure that the results of a Google search for "Subtitutability Error" will be any clearer.

Michael> It would be less precise and informative to ME but apparently
Michael> more so to a beginner. Obviously, we should support the
Michael> beginner!

I don't think that's appropriate in this case. Liskov violation is something precise. I don't think that changing what you call it will help beginners understand it any better in this case. I say leave it as it and make sure it's properly documented.

Skip

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