Re: [lmi] Stylistic question about constructing error messages

[Vadim Zeitlin]

On Sun, 14 Feb 2016 12:41:11 +0000 Greg Chicares <address@hidden> wrote:

GC> In my example above, arbitrarily assuming minimum age to be zero:
GC>  - select ages are in [0,2]
GC>  - select period is 4 years
GC>  - maximum age is eight
GC> so
GC>   2 + 4 < 8
GC> and if we write the ages around three sides of the table:
GC> 
GC>     0  1  2  3     /
GC>    ---select-- ult.
GC> 0  a0 a1 a2 a3 x4  4
GC> 1  b1 b2 b3 b4 x5  5
GC> 2  c2 c3 c4 c5 x6  6
GC> 7              x7  7
GC> 
GC> then they proceed consecutively across the top and then down the right side;
GC> but the left side has a jump.

 Yes, exactly, and I had stupidly forgot about this case and wanted to
check that the ages in the left column are consecutive. This is fixed now,
anyhow.

GC> [...seeking a better (terse, evocative) name than fatal_error...]
GC> 
GC> >  What about lmi_bail_out()? Or, if "bail out" counts as two words and not
GC> > one, lmi_abandon()?
GC> 
GC> "Bail out" seems more evocative. Now, lmi serves a financial industry,
GC> where that phrase suggests public relief for private irresponsibility,
GC> but we can escape that connotation by dropping the preposition. The
GC> phrase is slang, and slang has mostly shed the preposition anyway:
GC> 
GC>   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bail#Etymology_2
GC> 
GC> Thus:
GC>   lmi_bail()
GC>   lmi_warn()
GC>   lmi_status()
GC> 
GC> Two verbs...but then a noun. Can we find a third verb? How about...
GC>   inform
GC>   notify
GC>   apprise
GC>   mention

 Of those four I definitely prefer lmi_notify(), but I like replacing
"status" with just about anything else because I think it might be a good
idea to show these notifications somewhere else than in a status bar (which
is almost never used in "modern" UIs). But, just in case, some others:

- lmi_notice() or lmi_note(): This is clearly less important than
  lmi_warn(), but maybe too strong for an almost invisible status bar
  message.

- lmi_remark(): This seems to be even less important than lmi_note(), so
  maybe better suited for the current implementation.

- lmi_log(): This is probably too generic but also nicely short.

 Regards,
VZ