From: Jean-Hugues ROBERT <jean_hugues_robert@...>
Date: 2004-04-21T03:31:51+09:00
Subject: Re: [ANN] Instiki 0.7.0: Flavors of Expression

Remove CamelCase ?

I'd rather not. Because of an additional, subtle, cons:

Thanks to CamelCase new "concepts" are popularized.
Here is why:

When a couple of words (or slightly more) go together
well and if the underlying concept is successful
enough, then the CamelCase name for the concept will
pop up frequently and chances are that it becomes an idiom.

CamelCase is an example of this.

Having "names" for "things" is a good thing, it
structures the mind and facilitate communication.
Regular names are already overloaded with meaning.
CamelCase open a new name space for CamelNames.

You may agree that the success of acronyms is another
indication of the deep need for new name spaces. So, help
fulfill that need and promote CamelNames :-)

BTW: Do we remember how we used to describe a name
in CamelCase before CamelCase became so widely accepted ?
Personnaly I discovered that name, CamelCase, browsing
www.c2.com, the original Wiki. That way... despites having
been exposed to SmallTalk years before (where I believe
CamelCase was used a lot for the first time).

An additional benefit of CamelCase is that while Wikis becomes
increasingly popular, it will become possible to use
a CamelName in a mail message. People will understand
that one is referring to an already defined concept
that they can find information about in some Wiki.

Now, if you want to do something that will promote
CamelCase names, provide a feature whereby one can
easily provide a CamelLink to a WikiPage in an external
wiki and then you get another WWW (WorldWideWiki).
See also InterWikiLinks,
on Meatball (http://usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?InterWikiLinks)

Yours,

Jean-Hugues Robert

PS: If you want to support [[such links]], make it possible
to have CamelCaseLinks too (at the same time). My 2 Cents.


At 21:39 20/04/2004 +0900, you wrote:
>David Heinemeier Hansson wrote:
> > What's new in Instiki 0.7.0?
>
>I've got a proposition for the next version: remove CamelCase and use
>links like this: [[Wiki Page]].
>
>Cons:
>- more to type
>
>Pros:
>- no accidental linking
>- no need to escape WikiWords
>- no need to invent stupid names for wiki pages: having to write
>   "CeeLanguage" if you mean "C" sucks big time
>- wiki pages get a higher page rank: for most search engines the URL
>   ".../show/WikiPage" doesn't contain the word "Wiki", so the page is
>   ranked lower in a search for "Wiki" as it would if the words in the
>   Url were seperated by " " or "_"
>- Wikipedia does it
>
>Please tell me what you think about it.
>  in the
>   Url were seperated by " " or "_"
>- Wikipedia does it
>
>Please tell me what you think about it.

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