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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.wildstar.net!newsfeed.direct.ca!imci2!news.internetMCI.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.mathworks.com!fu-berlin.de!news.belwue.de!news.uni-stuttgart.de!news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de!saph2.physik.uni-bonn.de!juengst From: juengst@saph1.physik.uni-bonn.de (Henry G. Juengst) Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc Subject: Re: How to delete files within C programs Date: 12 May 1996 18:16:57 GMT Organization: Institut fuer Strahlen- und Kernphysik Lines: 46 Sender: juengst@saph2.physik.uni-bonn.de (Henry G. Juengst) Distribution: world Message-ID: <4n59up$33m@news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de> References: <Oum-El-Kheir.Benkahla-3004961724540001@mac-ugm-3.imag.fr> <4mv7jj$fl7@innocence.interface-business.de> <4mvdoj$6e2@news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de> <4mvov8$m5e@panix2.panix.com> Reply-To: juengst@saph1.physik.uni-bonn.de NNTP-Posting-Host: saph1.physik.uni-bonn.de Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.misc:22664 comp.unix.bsd.misc:1023 In article <4mvov8$m5e@panix2.panix.com>, shore@panix.com (Melinda Shore) writes: >In article <4mvdoj$6e2@news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de>, >Henry G. Juengst <juengst@saph1.physik.uni-bonn.de> wrote: >>The point at the beginning was, that I think the names 'unlink' and 'remove' >>are meaningless and unclear for beginners. > >I guess I'm a little unclear on this whole "beginner" >concept. Programmers typically do not remain *rank* >beginners (whether or not they develop real expertise is a >different question) very long - presumably they only need >to discover unlink once. It's also unclear to me why >beginners need to know how to issue system calls without >reading documentation. In the meantime, the name 'unlink' >quite clearly describes what it really does. Most beginners do not remain beginners later, but although later it is much easier to remember what a function does if you can read it. 'unlink' and 'remove' are harmless examples. 'wctomb' and 'j0' might be better examples. There is no need to define functions this way. Have a look at X11 or Motif (sure, Peter will also find some bad examples there, but I will ignore that). > >>This is the case for most >>identifier in unix/C. Therefore unix and C are no good environment for >>beginners. > >Yeah, like "PIP" and "ERA", or even "DEL" are any clearer. >I really don't think so. Who talks about "DEL"? > >-- > Melinda Shore - No Mountain Software - shore@nomt.com > If you send me harassing email, I'll probably post it Henry -- juengst@saph1.physik.uni-bonn.de [131.220.161.1] (Internet) omni:.de.uni-bonn.physik.saph1::juengst (DECnet/OSI, phase V) saph1::juengst [26.358] (DECnet, phase IV) Any opinions in this mail are my own.