Re: [PATCH] api-allocation-growing.txt: encourage better variable naming

[Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>]

Adam Spiers <git@adamspiers.org> writes:

>> Sounds good.  To follow "not type but contents", a further rewrite
>> with s/array/item/ is even better, no?
>
> I agree.

Thanks for a quick response; let's do this then.

-- >8 --
From: Adam Spiers <git@adamspiers.org>

The documentation for the ALLOC_GROW API implicitly encouraged
developers to use "ary" as the variable name for the array which is
dynamically grown.  However "ary" is an unusual abbreviation hardly
used anywhere else in the source tree, and it is also better to name
variables based on their contents not on their type.

Signed-off-by: Adam Spiers <git@adamspiers.org>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 Documentation/technical/api-allocation-growing.txt | 14 ++++++++------
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-allocation-growing.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-allocation-growing.txt
index 43dbe09..542946b 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/api-allocation-growing.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/api-allocation-growing.txt
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ Dynamically growing an array using realloc() is error prone and boring.
 
 Define your array with:
 
-* a pointer (`ary`) that points at the array, initialized to `NULL`;
+* a pointer (`item`) that points at the array, initialized to `NULL`
+  (although please name the variable based on its contents, not on its
+  type);
 
 * an integer variable (`alloc`) that keeps track of how big the current
   allocation is, initialized to `0`;
@@ -13,22 +15,22 @@ Define your array with:
 * another integer variable (`nr`) to keep track of how many elements the
   array currently has, initialized to `0`.
 
-Then before adding `n`th element to the array, call `ALLOC_GROW(ary, n,
+Then before adding `n`th element to the item, call `ALLOC_GROW(item, n,
 alloc)`.  This ensures that the array can hold at least `n` elements by
 calling `realloc(3)` and adjusting `alloc` variable.
 
 ------------
-sometype *ary;
+sometype *item;
 size_t nr;
 size_t alloc
 
 for (i = 0; i < nr; i++)
-	if (we like ary[i] already)
+	if (we like item[i] already)
 		return;
 
 /* we did not like any existing one, so add one */
-ALLOC_GROW(ary, nr + 1, alloc);
-ary[nr++] = value you like;
+ALLOC_GROW(item, nr + 1, alloc);
+item[nr++] = value you like;
 ------------
 
 You are responsible for updating the `nr` variable.
-- 
1.8.1.302.g0f4eaa7