[GRASS-dev] [GRASS GIS] #2409: last call for options keys consolidation

[GRASS GIS]

#2409: last call for options keys consolidation
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 Reporter:  martinl               |       Owner:  grass-dev@…              
     Type:  task                  |      Status:  new                      
 Priority:  blocker               |   Milestone:  7.0.0                    
Component:  Default               |     Version:  unspecified              
 Keywords:  standardized options  |    Platform:  Unspecified              
      Cpu:  Unspecified           |  
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Comment(by wenzeslaus):

 Replying to [comment:48 martinl]:
 > Replying to [comment:47 wenzeslaus]:
 > > > It means that current abbreviated option will still work expect of
 `rast3d` which needs to be renamed to `volume`.
 > >
 > > Why to volume? Although there was no agreement, we were often
 replacing all "voxel" and
 >
 > I was discussing that with MarkusN and MarkusM and we didn't find a
 better solution. Element 'volume' has big advantage: shorten 'rast' will
 still work.

 Sorry, but as you see I don't agree. Moreover, as I [comment:34 said
 before], I don't see the point in making everything longer and then
 thinking about how to shorten it. Well-decided short option/type name is
 better.

 If we would use `rast` and `rast3d` there wouldn't be any need to think
 about shortening and thus no need to use something else than 3D raster.

 > Moreover 'rast3d' was somehow weird,

 Not for me, I don't say it's ideal but I considered it as good enough
 (also for lack of other better options).

 If something is weird to me, it is `r3` in the beginning of module names
 because it has two characters not one. However, I haven't seen anything
 which could be used to replace that (since both volume and voxel starts
 with `v`).

 > "Volume" is used in the GUI (menu).

 And I always wanted to change that. `r3` is used in the name of the
 modules.

 > > "volume" (and others) by "3D raster" so far. The only three places I
 know about where
 >
 > "Voxel" is an element of the 3D grid.

 Sure, "voxel" is "3D pixel" and since pixel is a part of 2D raster, voxel
 is a part of 3D raster.

 > I would stay in the manual with "3D raster map" or "volume map".
 > > If we are be replacing "3D raster", we should do it everywhere
 including manual and module family name
 ([http://grass.osgeo.org/grass71/manuals/raster3D.html Manual: Raster3D
 commands]).
 >
 > No, I would stay with "3D raster map" or "volume map". We just changed
 element list name, nothing else.

 That's the problem. This would only make the situation worse. Besides so
 far favored "3D raster map" we would start to push also "volume map" and
 I'm not even mentioning "voxel map" and "3D grid".
 >
 > > I'm personally against "volume" because this term means too much other
 things. (Does volume computations refer to 3D raster/voxels/voxel models
 or to cubic meters of soil or water?) It
 >
 > Feel free to suggest better solution. We don't want to use shorten
 element names, we would prefer that shorten names will still work (`g.list
 rast`).
 >
 My suggestion is not to make the options longer in any cost and rather use
 reasonable shortcut as the only name. In case of rasters and 3D rasters it
 is `rast` and `rast3d` which is even backwards compatible.

 If we want users to learn that integer is `CELL` and double precision
 floating point is `DCELL` then I believe they can also handle `rast` being
 raster and `rast3d` being 3D raster.

 Speaking about naming of 3D raster, with my suggestion, there is no need
 to rename because there is no pressure for shortcuts. I would just
 propagate 3D raster everywhere, solve in any way few issues with 3D being
 at the beginning or at the end, and forgot about alternative names.

 GRASS GIS is great because for rasters and vectors it is using the same
 terms as computer graphics which is great because it is simple and
 consistent. It is much better than some infamous software whose users are
 calling digital elevation model image, polygons class, and data Shapefile.

 Unfortunately, computer graphics does not offer a clear solution for
 naming the thing which is the same as raster but in 3 dimensions. But what
 about the simplest solution, 3D raster?

 Even if there would be strong reason for renaming 3D raster (`rast3d`) to
 something else, I would rather choose voxel instead of volume because
 voxel is at least unambiguously related to 3D (voxel can be 3D pixel and
 also some more complicated 3D computer graphics thing). It is true that
 voxel is in fact "volume pixel" but "voxel map" clearly refers to 3D while
 "volume map" can mean different things. I like "voxel map" in general
 (much more than "volume map"). And as I said before, if rename, then
 rename completely, so including the change of `r3` to `vo`. But I would
 prefer to not go this way.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/2409#comment:49>
GRASS GIS <http://grass.osgeo.org>