[Numpy-discussion] Don't like the short names like lstsq and irefft (original) (raw)

Sasha ndarray at mac.com
Wed Jun 14 23:46:27 EDT 2006

On 6/14/06, David M. Cooke <cookedm at physics.mcmaster.ca> wrote:

After working with them for a while, I'm going to go on record and say that I prefer the long names from Numeric and numarray (like linearleastsquares, inverserealfft, etc.), as opposed to the short names now used by default in numpy (lstsq, irefft, etc.). I know you can get the long names from numpy.dft.old, numpy.linalg.old, etc., but I think the long names are better defaults.

I agree in spirit, but note that inverse_real_fft is still short for inverse_real_fast_fourier_transform. Presumably, fft is a proper noun in many people vocabularies, but so may be lstsq depending who you ask.

Abbreviations aren't necessary unique (quick! what does eig() return by default?), and aren't necessarily obvious. A Google search for irfft vs. irefft for instance turns up only the numpy code as (English) matches for irefft, while irfft is much more common. Short names have one important advantage in scientific languages: they look good in expressions.

What is easier to understand:

hyperbolic_tangent(x) = hyperbolic_sinus(x)/hyperbolic_cosinus(x)

or

tanh(x) = sinh(x)/cosh(x)

?

I am playing devil's advocate here a little because personally, I always recommend the following as a compromize:

sinh = hyperbolic_sinus ... tanh(x) = sinh(x)/cosh(x)

But the next question is where to put "sinh = hyperbolic_sinus": right before the expression using sinh? at the top of the module (import hyperbolic_sinus as sinh)? in the math library? If you pick the last option, do you need hyperbolic_sinus to begin with? If you pick any other option, how do you prevent others from writing sh = hyperbolic_sinus instead of sinh?

Also, Numeric and numarray compatibility is increased by using the long names: those two don't have the short ones.

Fitting names into 6 characters when out of style decades ago. (I think MS-BASIC running under CP/M on my Rainbow 100 had a restriction like that!) Short names are still popular in scientific programming: <http://www.nsl.com/papers/style.pdf>.

I am still +1 for keeping linear_least_squares and inverse_real_fft, but not just because abreviations are bad as such - if an established acronym such as fft exists we should be free to use it.

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