Is “Decl” becoming a user-facing term?

Evolution Discussion
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in swift, we seem to have a longstanding tradition of spelling out the vowels in the names we give to things. for example,

  • ObjectIdentifier and not ObjID
  • Substring and not Substr
  • UnsafeMutableRawBufferPointer and not UnsafeMutRawBufPtr
  • LazyPrefixWhileSequence and not LzyPfxWhileSeq

i’m not going to wade into the debate of which style is better, i am only pointing out that there is an established tradition in swift API naming. which is why i am surprised that esoteric truncations like Decl and Expr are becoming entrenched in the user-facing API of SwiftSyntax.

i’m well-aware that ‘Decl’ and friends have lived in the swift compiler for as long as it has been written in C++, but i always assumed that if it were ever to get surfaced in user-facing API (as SwiftSyntax will become once macros become widespread), that it would be known as Declaration.

Is Decl going to become a user-facing term, like Int, func, etc.?

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2

The Swift Syntax APIs aren't subject to Swift Evolution review. But yes, as you've observed, "Decl" and "Expr" are terms-of-art adopted in the user-facing API of Swift Syntax.

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It's a fair point. I think within SwiftSyntax "Expr" and "Decl" count as terms of art, but I'm glad the macro attributes, which can appear in any module, spell them out in full.

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5

“Exper”. And these are “abbreviations of art” within the compiler community, so the pronunciation’s pretty set. :person_shrugging:

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