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Naming nit #208

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chocolateboy opened this issue Apr 24, 2020 · 4 comments
Closed

Naming nit #208

chocolateboy opened this issue Apr 24, 2020 · 4 comments

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@chocolateboy
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Symmetric assert/refute (refute is referee's "assert.not*")

🤔 "assert" and "refute" aren't "symmetrical"...

"Refute" (demonstrate that something is false) isn't the opposite of "assert" (state that something is true). It's the opposite of "prove" (demonstrate that something is true). The opposite of "assert" is "deny" (state that something is false).

I guess it's too late to change it, but perhaps it could be added as an alias?

(I realise the name comes from minitest, and the noun ("refutations") sounds like a better complement to "assertions" (to me) than "denials".)

@mantoni
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mantoni commented Apr 27, 2020

I would rather change it in the documentation than changing it in the code. Like the explanation sais, refute is referee's "assert.not", which describes the semantics how this is applied. The word "symmetric" was chosen to explain that every assert.* function has a corresponding refute.* function. Do you have an idea how we can improve the description?

I also agree that "refute" sounds better than "deny", especially in the context of a "referee" :)

@chocolateboy
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chocolateboy commented Apr 27, 2020

Do you have an idea how we can improve the description?

Serves me right for nitpicking: now I have to do the hardest thing in computer science and try to think of a better wording :-)

How about:

Complementary assert/refute (refute is referee's assert.not)

Or:

refute as the inverse of assert (rather than assert.not)

Or:

refute to negate assert (rather than assert.not)

@mantoni
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mantoni commented Apr 27, 2020

I like “Complementary assert/refute (refute is referee's assert.not)” 👍.

@mroderick What do you think?

@mroderick
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I like "complementary" 👍

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