benfred/venn.js

Use of British English in library

JelleBlaauw opened this issue · 3 comments

JelleBlaauw commented

I love this library very much, but one thing that bothers me is the use of British English in the code, while American English is standardized in coding.

For example, the word colour is used, instead of the American English color:

colourMap = {},

Another example, where inconsistency between the two occurs:

// compute the center of some circles by maximizing the margin of
// the center point relative to the circles (interior) after subtracting
// nearby circles (exterior)
function computeTextCentre(interior, exterior) {}

If HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and basically every other language use American English, then why does this library not follow that standard?

I understand changing this would possibly introduce compatibility issues, but the longer you wait the worse the impact will be.

benfred commented

I'm actually using Canadian English spelling - in British English function names like normalizeSolution would be normaliseSolution instead. Having said that, Canadian English isn't exactly well known and I can understand how you might have gotten it confused =)

I agree about being consistent with CSS and HTML for the public API though - it could be a source of friction for most people using this library. I'm on vacation until September, I'll see about adding support for Americans when I get back.

JelleBlaauw commented

I apologize for getting Canadian English and British English mixed up. I'm not a native English speaker myself. I personally prefer British English over American English on most occasions, however, I feel that - in programming - American English should always be used, for standardization purposes, obviously.

Anyway, thanks for getting back to me. Enjoy your vacation.