Name of a function returning a generator
Question:
How do you name a function that returns a generator (that is, uses yield foo instead of return foo)?
- It’s definitely not
getFoo() because it does not return a value of Foo.
- It’s probably not
foos() because I’d rather have an easy-to-distinguish prefix.
- It’s probably not exactly
listFoo() because it does not return a list.
- It’s probably not
iterateFoo() because this prefix is too long.
What’s your preferred solution?
Update:
While foos() may be a perfectly good solution in some cases, note how method names tend to begin with a verb. The verb conveys the idea that this is a method, not a data field, and thus helps readability. If possible, I’d prefer a solution that makes it easy to tell a method from a data field.
Answers:
genFoo()
(…and some extra words ensure this solution has at least 30 characters)
Some terse suggestions:
getFoos()
generateFoos()
yieldFoos()
allFoos()
Since you don’t normally need a generator to just get all your foos, it’s pretty common for the specific function of the generator to suggest a more interesting name:
getActiveFoos()
getGreenFoos()
getFoosMatchingCriteria(someCriteria)
getFoosOverTheNetworkIfTheDatabaseIsntBeingAJerkface()
I think foo or foos are possibilities. Or, to mimic Python2 dicts’ iteritems, you could use iterfoo.
Although it is good practice to have helpful names that indicate what things do, I do not think it is at all necessary to use Hungarian notation to indicate the return type of a function.
The return type should probably be documented in comments or the docstring, but I would suggest that something like foos(), getfoos(), or get_foos() would be best for the name.
If you do want it to be obvious that this is a generator, I would suggest iterfoos() for its similarity to Python 2’s dict methods like itervalues().
Keep in mind that many built-in functions that used to return lists are now generators in Python 3 (map(), dict.values() etc.), so it should not surprise anyone when your functions that return a sequence are generators even if you didn’t call it generate_foos() or some other variation.
The most accurate would be:
iterateFoo()
iterate_foo()
iter_foo()
iterFoo()
You say specifically what the function does while being pretty clear why you would use it.
How do you name a function that returns a generator (that is, uses yield foo instead of return foo)?
- It’s definitely not
getFoo()because it does not return a value of Foo. - It’s probably not
foos()because I’d rather have an easy-to-distinguish prefix. - It’s probably not exactly
listFoo()because it does not return alist. - It’s probably not
iterateFoo()because this prefix is too long.
What’s your preferred solution?
Update:
While foos() may be a perfectly good solution in some cases, note how method names tend to begin with a verb. The verb conveys the idea that this is a method, not a data field, and thus helps readability. If possible, I’d prefer a solution that makes it easy to tell a method from a data field.
genFoo()
(…and some extra words ensure this solution has at least 30 characters)
Some terse suggestions:
getFoos()
generateFoos()
yieldFoos()
allFoos()
Since you don’t normally need a generator to just get all your foos, it’s pretty common for the specific function of the generator to suggest a more interesting name:
getActiveFoos()
getGreenFoos()
getFoosMatchingCriteria(someCriteria)
getFoosOverTheNetworkIfTheDatabaseIsntBeingAJerkface()
I think foo or foos are possibilities. Or, to mimic Python2 dicts’ iteritems, you could use iterfoo.
Although it is good practice to have helpful names that indicate what things do, I do not think it is at all necessary to use Hungarian notation to indicate the return type of a function.
The return type should probably be documented in comments or the docstring, but I would suggest that something like foos(), getfoos(), or get_foos() would be best for the name.
If you do want it to be obvious that this is a generator, I would suggest iterfoos() for its similarity to Python 2’s dict methods like itervalues().
Keep in mind that many built-in functions that used to return lists are now generators in Python 3 (map(), dict.values() etc.), so it should not surprise anyone when your functions that return a sequence are generators even if you didn’t call it generate_foos() or some other variation.
The most accurate would be:
iterateFoo()
iterate_foo()
iter_foo()
iterFoo()
You say specifically what the function does while being pretty clear why you would use it.