Usenet@aristeia.com (Scott Meyers) writes:

| Does anybody happen to know why the opposite of a dependent name is a
| "nondependent" name and not an "independent" name?

I would not take "independent" as the opposite of "depeendent" in the
sense "nondependent" suggests.  To me, "independent" means that before
some point, it used to be "dependent".   I would prefer "free symbols"
as found in earlier drafts of two-phrase name lookup proposals (circa
1992).  It would be much more common in the computing area than, ahem,
"independent name".

(In maths where dependent is commonly used, as in "dependent
variable", the opposite is commonly "free variable").

--
                                                        Gabriel Dos Reis
                                                         gdr@cs.tamu.edu
  Texas A&M University -- Computer Science Department
 301, Bright Building -- College Station, TX 77843-3112

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gdr@cs.tamu.edu (Gabriel Dos Reis) writes:

> Usenet@aristeia.com (Scott Meyers) writes:
>
> | Does anybody happen to know why the opposite of a dependent name is a
> | "nondependent" name and not an "independent" name?
>
> I would not take "independent" as the opposite of "depeendent" in the
> sense "nondependent" suggests.  To me, "independent" means that before
> some point, it used to be "dependent".

For me 'independent' has too many other associations, so I'm more or
    less with Gaby on this one; I prefer nondependent to independent.

> I would prefer "free symbols"
> as found in earlier drafts of two-phrase name lookup proposals (circa
> 1992).  It would be much more common in the computing area than, ahem,
> "independent name".
>
> (In maths where dependent is commonly used, as in "dependent
> variable", the opposite is commonly "free variable").

But here I must differ. I would have expected 'free' to map to
    dependent, and 'bound' to map to nondependent.

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Does anybody happen to know why the opposite of a dependent name is a
"nondependent" name and not an "independent" name?  I'm not out to change
anything, but I find the term "nondependent" incredibly grating, so I'm
wondering why the committee chose to go with a what I originally thought
was a non-word but now realize is just a noncommon (ahem) word when there
was a perfectly acceptable and very common word that means the same thing
just sitting there.

Thanks for any history or insight,

Scott

PS - Reminder to Americans:  Nondependence Day is July 4.

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Scott Meyers wrote:
> Does anybody happen to know why the opposite of a dependent name is a
> "nondependent" name and not an "independent" name?  I'm not out to change
> anything, but I find the term "nondependent" incredibly grating, so I'm
> wondering why the committee chose to go with a what I originally thought
> was a non-word but now realize is just a noncommon (ahem) word when there
> was a perfectly acceptable and very common word that means the same thing
> just sitting there.
>
> Thanks for any history or insight,

IMHO the word "independent" may imply "has at some point been dependent"
and non-<anything> has no such connotation.  [Not that I know the actual
reasons for the Committee to choose it...]

Victor

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