Re: Remove numeric constants from WebRTC

On 12/21/2011 04:45 PM, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 7:48 PM, Harald Alvestrand<harald@alvestrand.no>  wrote:
>> On 12/20/2011 11:54 PM, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
>>> There was no official resolution about this, as it's a style/design
>>> thing, not an actual change in the spec.
>> So (formalistically) how do observers know that this was the conclusion?
>> I'd be happy to be pointed at an email in the archive of the WG saying "as
>> WG chair, I conclude that this discussion resulted in....."
> I'm not sure I understand - the fact that there's a note in the spec
> means that the editor decided to put it there.
>
> However, the bug that led to Cameron adding this text was
> https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=14878
Interesting discussion - thanks!

Now it's clear that at least you, Cameron and Anne are convinced, and 
nobody's objected strongly on the bug - the fact that this bug tracker 
CCs the mailing list makes me reasonably confident that there aren't 
engaged, strong objectors out there.

I read a very strong objection to use of bitfields, and a 
not-quite-so-strong (but still clear) objection to the use of integer 
constants.
>>>    However, I can quickly list
>>> the reasons why the decision was made:
>>>
>>> 1. Constants are more verbose than strings of the same name, as you
>>> must repeat the name of the interface as well.
>>> 2. Numeric constants can be passed in two ways to a function, and the
>>> bad way (as integers) is much shorter, and thus often more attractive.
>>> 3. Constants don't buy you anything over strings - strings can be
>>> interned, etc.
>>>
>>> In general, experience shows that people usually forgo the named
>>> constant and just use the numbers instead, which is the worst outcome
>>> possible, as it makes the code very difficult to read and understand.
>>> Since using strings instead has no real downsides, and avoids all of
>>> the downsides of numeric constants, they are now the preferred way to
>>> handle this sort of thing.
>> I see the logic. The lack of enums in the language hurts again.
>> I still miss the ability to document (for programmers) in WebIDL what the
>> permitted values are; is there a comment convention for doing that at the
>> moment?
> Enums were just added yesterday, due to feedback on an unrelated bug.
> ^_^  http://dev.w3.org/2006/webapi/WebIDL/#idl-enums
With that addition, and the fact that the API to enums is formulated in 
terms of strings, I feel confident in recommending that the APIs in 
WebRTC that use integers for enum-like properties should be changed to 
use strings.

Thank you!

                        Harald

Received on Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:27:41 UTC