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std::latest<> Should be Named std::snapshot_source

Document number: P1760R0
Date: 2019-06-17
Audience: LEWG
Reply-to: Tony Van Eerd. snapshot at forecode.com

I've been through the papers, found some stuff with bad names
It felt bad to be causing dev pain
In the standard you need stuff with good names
Cause there ain't no one for to help you explain
La la, la la-la la

After two days in the standard tome
My brain began to turn dead
After three days with the standard combed
I was looking at a lot of dread
And the story it told of those names in code
Made me sad to think of our devs

You see I've been through the papers, found some stuff with bad names
It felt bad to be cause of dev pain
In the standard you need stuff with good names
Cause there ain't no one for to help you explain
La la, la la-la la
....
(ie A Horse with No Name by America)

P0561R4 proposes a class for deferred reclamation so that multiple threads can easily access the “latest snapshot” of a state. Currently the class where all snapshots are managed is called latest (along with a raw_latest<> class template in header <snapshot>).

std::latest<> was originally named std::cell<>, which was a very vague and thus bad name. So lastest is a better name.

But still not a good name. There are issues:

  • "latest" is a very general term, can be applied to many things, many meanings
  • (for example) std::chrono::latest is an enum value, completely unrelated to std::latest<>
  • std::latest<> doesn't hint at its relationship to std::snapshot_ptr nor the header <snapshot>

So rename it std::snapshot_source<> (and raw_snapshot_source<>)

If you feel these are too long, they are not:

  • there will not be many sources, you don't type it often
  • the whole feature is not meant to be frequently used by the average programmer
  • a long name signals "this thing might be a bit complicated", which it is