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

Subject: Re: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?
From: Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>
To: Monique Semp <monique -dot- semp -at- earthlink -dot- net>
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2016 14:04:08 -0800

In cases like that, I say something like "returns a <whatever>, on
which you may use <some other function> to return TRUE if <condition
A> or FALSE if <condition B>."

I'm really not comfortable characterizing returns.

On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 11:51 AM, Monique Semp
<monique -dot- semp -at- earthlink -dot- net> wrote:
>> 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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Follow-Ups:

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

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