Why does Resolve/C++ use such long component and operation names?
A33: It is the practice of designers in Resolve/C++ is to use long names such as “Concatenate” rather than shorter abbreviations such as “Conc”. That’s a mild example. Consider “Get_First_Edge_On_A_Least_Cost_Path”! We share here two things in response to this complaint: (1) a reason for this design choice, and (2) a discussion of how to use tools to ease the burden of writing long names. (1) Resolve/C++ designers tend not to use abbreviations for the same reason that book publishers don’t. Like books, software is read much more often than it is written. Imagine a book publisher telling its readers that, to reduce the readers’ cost of buying the book, the publisher uses many abbreviations throughout the book, thus substantially reducing the book’s size. For the convenience of the reader, a reference card showing the expansions of the abbreviations is provided. I’m guessing that this practice hasn’t caught on with publishers because it would place an unacceptable burden on the readers.
