Forum OpenACS Development: Re: ad_parameter deprecated in favor of parameter::get?

Collapse
Posted by Jonathan Ellis on
I agree that discussion is good.  Let me explain why I feel this way.

C++, python, java, lisp, tcl, ...  There is a reason I can't think of a language that uses named parameters for every function call, and the reason is it's frankly stupid to inflict needless verbosity on everyone in the name of making things simpler for novices.

Anyone from a unix background knows that utilities work the way I describe; you run "find / foo" not "find -path / -expr foo".  If you want optional behavior then you specify -mtime etc.  And if you are a newbie and don't know what the arguments mean then you look up the documentation.  In the case of OpenACS you are going to have to look at the docs anyway because parameter::get isn't meaningful enough to someone who's never seen it before.  And no that doesn't mean we should rename it apm_parameter_from_database::get.