The API is designed to be easy to use and consistent. Ease of use is measured by the number of calls to achieve a concrete high-level action.
The library uses a simple naming scheme that makes use of common abbreviations to keep the names short but meaningful. Since version 0.8.2 many symbols have been renamed to fit this scheme. The ultimate goal is that the programmer can guess a name.
------------------- ------------ --------------------------------------English word To use Notes ------------------- ------------ --------------------------------------initialize initT init is used to create a value type T new newP new is used to create a reference type P find find should return the position where something was found; for a bool result use contains contains contains often short for find() >= 0 append add use add instead of append compare cmp should return an int with the < 0 == 0 or > 0 semantics; for a bool result use sameXYZ put put, []= consider overloading []= for put get get, [] consider overloading [] for get; consider to not use get as a prefix: len instead of getLen length len also used for number of elements size size, len size should refer to a byte size capacity cap memory mem implies a low-level operation items items default iterator over a collection pairs pairs iterator over (key, value) pairs delete delete, del del is supposed to be faster than delete, because it does not keep the order; delete keeps the order remove delete, del inconsistent right now remove-and-return pop Table/TableRef alias to take include incl exclude excl command cmd execute exec environment env variable var value value, val val is preferred, inconsistent right now executable exe directory dir path path path is the string "/usr/bin" (for example), dir is the content of "/usr/bin"; inconsistent right now extension ext separator sep column col, column col is preferred, inconsistent right now application app configuration cfg message msg argument arg object obj parameter param operator opr procedure proc function func coordinate coord rectangle rect point point symbol sym literal lit string str identifier ident indentation indent ------------------- ------------ --------------------------------------