Re: Proposed context property renaming

[David Kastrup]

Dan Eble <nine.fierce.ballads@gmail.com> writes:

> On 2024-12-11 14:04, Trevor Bača wrote:
>
>> Regardless of the names of Lily's underlying (and therefore
>> user-invisible?) types, these user-facing context properties all measure
>> time, and not space. I think there might be a real gain in clarity in the
>> public-facing API if we move to labeling time-based properties with
>> "duration" and reserve "length" for properties that measure things in
>> centimeters, inches, staff spaces and the like.

> In theory, the issue could be resolved by switching to a different
> term for the number in "c4".  The drawback is that "duration" is so
> firmly established that my head might explode.

That's something we definitely want to avoid.  For whatever it is worth,
"timespan" does not have more letters than "duration".  But with regard
to established jargon, I think of "timespan" as something measured in
seconds while I think of "length" as something measured in beats.  We
don't really use "length" for properties measured in centimeters,
inches, staff spaces and the like, do we?  We use "width" and "height"
here.  At least that would be one way to avoid ambiguity.

-- 
David Kastrup