Let's please rename Block to Receiver before it's too late

[Joe Bowbeer]

I prefer Procedure to Receiver, but I'm getting used to Block despite my
initial exasperation.  At the moment, I prefer Block to Receiver.

Procedure > Block > Receiver

Receiver is commonly used in Android (BroadcastReceiver) and is a common
name in message and event frameworks, as is Handler, so I consider them
both out-of-bounds for use here.

Joe


On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 10:58 AM, Kevin Bourrillion <kevinb at google.com>wrote:

> When I see methods like
>
>   doSomething(IntBlock intBlock);
>   doSomethingElse(Block<String> stringBlock);
>
> ... I can't even guess what these things mean.  What is a "block of
> string" or an "int block"?  If forced to guess, I'd say "well, this clearly
> has nothing to do with a 'block' in the Java language, but that's my best
> analogy anyway, and blocks have no well-defined inputs or outputs, but that
> int/string has to get involved somehow, so..... if that whole block somehow
> represents an Int in some way it must be that the whole thing *evaluates* to
> an Int... except wait, there's also IntSupplier.... wtf?"
>
> Procedure has similar problems to maybe half the same degree.
>
> But then consider this:
>
>   doSomething(IntReceiver receiver);
>   doSomethingElse(Receiver<String> receiver);
>
> How much clearer could anything be?  It's an int receiver: it receives
> ints!  Bonus: it has a much clearer relationship to Supplier.
>
> I have scoured the threads to find what the problems are that people had
> with Receiver, and I haven't found any. Privately Brian guessed the problem
> could be "confusion with receiver in the sense of method receiver?"  But
> that's not even a term 95% of normal Java developers know or use.  And even
> if so, the meaning of "an int receiver" is so clear the mind doesn't even
> *go* there.
>
> Agree/disagree/neutral?
>
> --
> Kevin Bourrillion | Java Librarian | Google, Inc. | kevinb at google.com
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/lambda-libs-spec-experts/attachments/20130118/21ad6888/attachment.html