[Python-ideas] PEP 3155 - Qualified name for classes and functions

[Jim Jewett]

On 11/8/11, Barry Warsaw <barry at python.org> wrote:
> ... one problem with abbreviations is that they are more difficult for
> non-native English speakers to understand and use.

qname seems to be well established for XML.  Do you fear that the q
doesn't look enough like a prefix, and they won't recognize it as a
type of name, or only that they won't know what makes this type of
name special?

> Python has always valued readability over writing convenience, and I think
> this is one of Guido's founding brilliant insights: code is read far more
> often then it is written.  And yet, he managed to find elegant ways of
> expressing code clearly without being overly verbose.

Frankly, I wouldn't know precisely what a "qualified name" is, and I
can only guess based on my painful experience with other systems -- of
which XML is by far the least ugly.  I'm not sure a standard
abbreviation makes things any worse.  ("Fully Qualified Name" isn't as
bad, but clearly runs afoul of succinctness.)

-jJ