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There are vast difference between programming languages and runtime environments. Take C# and C++, that are not even that far apart. In C++ a class method is called differently than a instance method. In C# there is no difference. In C++ there is a difference between an instance and a pointer to an instance, in C# originally not, but now we have things like ref. And in a procedural language, file.saveas() is not even possible, it would be saveas(file). In other words, nice thought maybe, but not practically possible.
In addition, who is going to enforce this? Will we get a library API police? I hope not.
Maybe the problem is in the moving around of code, and you should have the functional bits in just one place. When I run in to things like this I ask myself "what do I need to do different to not have this problem". Just a thought.
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Plus: How do you make a standard for something you haven't thought of yet? What if I have an idea which doesn't fit the model of standards? More importantly, what if the model of standards restricts my thinking so that I don't have the idea?
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The four file-reading functions you list do different things. It is less confusing to name them different things than it is to figure out how to overload the name for different kinds of file-reading.
There are different pairs of English words you could use (get/set, get/put, load/save, read/write) with little reason to pick one set over another.
And while we're being English-centric, shouldn't an API standard support multiple human languages and character sets? Does that sound like too much? Well, then no standardization for you.
Three of your four reasons there are multiple names for things (compatibility, bag-of-parts, program-flow) are actually good reasons why interface names are not consistent. We have to predict the future to pick the perfect name, and we're no good at that.
I welcome your bold solution to these problems, but don't expect to hear back soon.
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SeattleC++ wrote: There are different pairs of English words you could use (get/set, get/put, load/save, read/write) with little reason to pick one set over another.
You're reminding me of PowerShell, which has (but does not enforce) the use of a specific set of "approved" verbs as the prefix to any function name. MS itself has been pretty good at sticking with it, but I suspect not many people do.
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I have to conclude also that standardizing programming is an exercise in futility but at least, in a slightly more optimistic way, computer archaeologists of the future have a treasure trove of the different ways we were thinking (of course some will think...how silly, with the Vulkan API, everything was eventually perfect, etc.,etc.)
Not saying we're documenting our own stubbornness (or stupidity, *cough* cobol *cough*) but nothing is lost if we have a few dozen ways to execute or express what saving a bunch of 1's and 0's actually is (and I can just hear the voices of dead engineers whispering how magnetic memory cores worked)
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If libraries were standardized to that extreme throughout the industry, I suspect a lot of people in software development roles would simply be there to 'glue' libraries together and the job would become incredibly boring.
Taken a step further, the role could also more easily be replaced with some AI. Something I don't see happening with the current state of the industry.
I'm not suggesting anything, one way or another, because I'm thinking in terms of job security...despite what it might read like. 
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You're so close.
It's interesting to see many replies here picking apart at my specific example rather than focussing on the broader issue:
Every developer seems to be implementing the same, broad-stroke, task, in their own way. So we get slightly different ways of doing things, and slightly different names, and slightly different order in which each step of the task gets done, and multiple paths to achieve the same goal.
Copy and paste code solves some of this: many of us find a solution, copy and paste, then adjust so it fits our need and actually works (give or take actual error handling). The next step is obviously AI: you need to (for example) save an uploaded file. The AI generates that bit of code for you. It's the same basic code it suggests to everyone, with variable names changed to protect the innocent.
So my actual feeling here is that, no, we as devs won't suddenly all agree on standard names and steps. What we'll start doing, though, is following the lead of the auto-generated code and not need to make up our own slightly different names and steps.
It's not about job security. That's like saying a construction worker will lose their job because they are using a nailgun instead of a hammer, or by using pre-fab concrete sections instead of building molds and pouring concrete. There's still tons of work to be done: you just get more of it done in a given time.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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Chris Maunder wrote: It's not about job security. That's like saying a construction worker will lose their job because they are using a nailgun instead of a hammer, or by using pre-fab concrete sections instead of building molds and pouring concrete. There's still tons of work to be done: you just get more of it done in a given time.
Exactly. People think of AI taking their jobs away from them; I see it as helping take care of the repetitive, mechanical parts, leaving the developer to focus on the more challenging aspects that AI is still in no position to solve. That doesn't worry me. At all.
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I'm not sure I get the issue. Web APIs already have a standard naming convention based on HTTP verbs, and that makes sense given that they use HTTP. I'd prefer that not to change.
If you're saying you want a consistent naming convention for accessing any kind of data/storage with any kind of API/library/framework, then we'll never agree on what that should be. For instance, as a DB guy everything is CRUD to me, and I see every kind of data access through that lens and would name things accordingly if it were up to me. Doesn't mean anyone would agree with me though.
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StatementTerminator wrote: Web APIs already have a standard naming convention based on HTTP verbs, and that makes sense given that they use HTTP. I'd prefer that not to change.
I think what Chris is describing is that it needs to be more prevalent. HTTP verbs are merely fundamental building blocks; building complete web sites goes way beyond that, and those parts working at a higher level have little to no standardization.
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Oh. If this is about things like the pain of re-learning how to do the same things every time, for instance, MS decides to scramble the .Net framework, I'm feeling that a lot lately. And also the tedium of finding the one true way that everyone can agree on, when it all compiles down to the same thing anyway.
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It's sort of a nice idea, but on balance I don't think so. On a long enough timescale, standardizing everything is a type of restriction: programming is based on lateral thinking and this is simply a method of making that not work properly.
If you're the type of programmer who works by bolting together bits of other people's code, then standardization is great; if you're the type of programmer who creates libraries and APIs, then it doesn't work to create something new based on old ideas of standardization which don't apply to something their creators hadn't even thought of... see what I mean?
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oooohhhhhh...
Hmm. Lets talk about Get. Get is a mutative verb in English. eg: You get married, You get the cold, You get to go, You get killed, You get results. You might think that last one has no effect, but trust me those results are not benign they decide everything from graduating, to informing you a baby is on its way. Getting anything is a sure sign something has changed.
Also lets talk Save. When you Save a soul its not preserved on a disk somewhere. When you Save a life, it can still be lost. Saving a place doesn't mean anything is stored there. And saving a goal means preventing it from happening in the first place. So are we storing the data, or saving it from being stored?
And append. Great i think we might have a winner, but a + operator? what about the humble comma? surely appending an interface to a type definition shouldn't look like:
class newType : Something + Foo + Disposable Also Append implies order, how the hell do you append a value to a set? Add maybe, include possibly, but append?
What you have discovered in your own way is the story of Babel. The simple fact of the matter is that language is defined as the common cross-section of symbols that have common interpretations across a populous. Too many symbols, Too many definitions, or too many people make it stupidly difficult to synchronise on anything. And stupidly easy for spelling mistakes like Cloneable to be quickly dispersed.
We can try to say this is the language, and it will work for a number of simple ideas, i believe the English language can claim some 80+ thousand unique words. Most humans might remember 40+ thousand of those and not necessarily the entirety of their meanings. How many meanings can you name for "of"?
I believe over time we will iron out the core differences. But remember human language has been around for at least 10 thousand years. Its still trying to figure out what to call a cheerio (a small Frankfurt sausage). So maybe don't hold your breath.
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Sounds like a job for AI to suggest and fix-up names in code. Many of the code-assist tools already comply with a naming convention. And companies like Microsoft already have a naming convention that VisualStudio uses to make application development easier. Now if they can get these conventions to flow to their PowerPlatform and Azure.
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cheers
Chris Maunder
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Type of shelf or breakfast perhaps? (11)
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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CONTINENTAL - dual definition
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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You are up tomorrow - I was thinking nobody was going to answer ... 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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If I hadn't set yesterdays I would have
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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And if my Insider email hadn't just arrived, so would I!
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I donβt get those
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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