Andrey Semashev wrote:
Joel de Guzman wrote:
Andrey Semashev wrote:
No, I wouldn't have to read the docs, if the library had a more descriptive name and I was looking for something else. If I'm looking for smart pointers and see a Boost.Format library, I immediately know that it's not what I'm looking for.
Disagree. It just so happens that you have prior knowledge. Without it, Boost.Format can be anything. It can be for formatting hard disks, for all you know. Or perhaps providing different file formats? "Boost.Format" in itself does not convey enough information. A title is too short to convey the intent of a library. You need at least a sentence.
"The Boost Format library"
Duh, what does that do? Provide cross platform file formats?
"The Boost Format library: The format library provides a class for formatting arguments according to a format-string, as does printf, but with two major differences"
Ah, format-strings.. ah printing!
It can be many things, but it definitely isn't a library of smart pointers, is it? On the other hand, Boost.SmartPtr is most likely what I'm looking for - therefore I will put more attention to it (read the docs, for a start).
Look, I'm not arguing that the library name is everything you need to know about the library. I'm just saying that informative names really do help to find what you need.
How about Boost.Any? For the uninitiated, that could contain smart pointers. I look at the current names. Only a very few give me the enough information to know what they are for. What is assign? What is enable_if? What is parameter? asio? ref? variant? mpl? units? optional? etc. I wouldn't know by just the names! If I was looking for a particular library in Boost. I'd look at the categories. It's a shame that the current web interface lost this very useful page: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_37_0/libs/libraries.htm#Category Regards, -- Joel de Guzman http://www.boostpro.com http://spirit.sf.net