[IPython-dev] what goes wrong with %%file

[Brian Granger]

I too think that writefile is my favorite so for.  What about
prompting on overwrite.  I think Min and I are in favor of that - but
I think this new name resolves some of the confusion so I am fine
either way.

On Wed, May 15, 2013 at 2:38 PM, MinRK <benjaminrk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 15, 2013 at 2:31 PM, Fernando Perez <fperez.net at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 12:35 PM, Brian Granger <ellisonbg at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > The name "%%file" is conceptually close to what the magic does = it
>> > writes/saves/creates a *file*.  What you call the action
>> > (write/save/create) is ambiguous, the end result (file) is not.  I
>> > don't want to pick a name that emphasizes the ambiguous part of the
>> > magic while underplaying the perfectly clear part (file).
>>
>> While I remember liking %%file when we had the initial naming
>> discussions on this for these same reasons, unfortunately we have
>> evidence that users do get confused by this.  I've had the same
>> question asked during teaching workshops over the last few months.
>>
>> If it's really confusing lots of users, we should find a way to
>> mitigate that instead of having to answer this same question til the
>> end of days.
>>
>> > The name "%%fwrite" requires users to make the non-obvious conceptual
>> > jump that "f" = "file".  That is a step back.
>>
>> Agreed, too cryptic.
>>
>> > If we do change the name (I am open to it but not thrilled about it) I
>> > would prefer something that makes its purpose more obvious:
>> >
>> > %%writefile
>> > %%savefile
>> >
>> > I also prefer names that order words in a grammatically sensible
>> > manner (%%writefile rather than %%filewrite)
>>
>> Given that in python, the actual lingo uses 'write' (as in open('foo',
>> 'w') and f.write() ), I think that writefile is probably my favorite
>> choice. Starting with the word file helps a tiny bit
>> discoverability/tab completion, but I also agree that a more natural
>> reading probably outweighs that.
>>
>> >From everything we've seen so far, I'm leaning towards `writefile`,
>> which should really be completely unambiguous to anyone and should
>> clear this source of confusion once and for all.
>
>
> Then I think PR #3317 best reflects consensus - rename to `writefile`,
> no change in behavior.
>
>>
>>
>> f
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-- 
Brian E. Granger
Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
bgranger at calpoly.edu and ellisonbg at gmail.com