Re: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?

Subject: Re: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?
From: "Monique Semp" <monique -dot- semp -at- earthlink -dot- net>
To: "Robert Lauriston" <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2016 11:51:10 -0800

My default phrasing is "returns TRUE if ...."

Ah, but the issue again is inconsistency. Some functions directly return TRUE/FALSE, but many others return a higher-level function-status-ok value, and return the condition's TRUE/FALSE through a function call parameter.

So "returns..." won't work in these situations, and we're back to using "test if" or "determine whether", or some such thing.

Certainly the ideal would be a coding standard that all engineers follow, and the standard would say how to name functions of this sort and how to return the value. But that's not likely to be followed even if implemented.

-Monique
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References:
"test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?: From: Monique Semp
Re: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?: From: Robert Lauriston

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