ES3.1 Object static methods rationale document

[Maciej Stachowiak]

On Jul 16, 2008, at 2:36 PM, Allen Wirfs-Brock wrote:

> Just wait, "reify" may yet end up as the last name standing...

Methods don't reify things, the language definition does. Property  
descriptors are reified in ES3.1 whether or not you ever call the  
method.

I think getPropertyDescriptor is the best name suggested so far, it  
has no chance of being confused for a method that would get the  
property value, and it does not use obscure CS jargon in an incorrect  
way. I don't think brevity is critical for these metaprogramming/ 
reflection type methods - they are not the kind of thing that will be  
commonly used by most programmers. Mostly they will be used by  
frameworks such as Ajax libraries or secure language subsets.

Regards,
Maciej

>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: es4-discuss-bounces at mozilla.org [mailto:es4-discuss-bounces at mozilla.org 
> ] On Behalf Of Brendan Eich
> Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 2:27 PM
> To: David Flanagan
> Cc: es4-discuss at mozilla.org es4-discuss
> Subject: Re: ES3.1 Object static methods rationale document
>
> On Jul 16, 2008, at 1:41 PM, David Flanagan wrote:
>
>> Brendan, I think you were correct when you originally wrote:
>>
>>> lookup : define :: get : put.
>>
>> I think that lookupProperty is much nicer than describeProperty,  
>> since
>> "lookup" captures the getter nature of the method in a way that
>> "describe" does not.
>
>
> Connotations are many, ambiguity without a noun phrase (not just
> overloaded old "property") saying what's being "got" or "described"
> or "looked up" is inevitable. This means the stolid, safe name
> "getPropertyDescriptor" is least likely to confuse.
>
> I see what you mean about describe in the context of setting a
> description (depict in a graphics context is problematic too) --
> thanks. Thesaurus doesn't include mental concept filtering, dammit.
> I'm sure we'll get this right, but I'm also pretty sure "getProperty"
> isn't the droid we are seeking.
>
> /be
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