[GRASS-dev] Naming of modules in GRASS GIS 8

[Nikos Alexandris]

In the spirit of contributing ideas for "GRASS 8 planning" [0],
I'd like to add a section "Naming of modules" and propose essentially
the (re-)naming of grass modules, along with options (and/or parameters) by
fully spelling out of what they mean/do.

[0] https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/Grass8Planning

In my humble view, the development team should support and
encourage this practice extensively, including when scripting and naming
functions too.


While a lot has been updated during the last years, there are still
shortcuts instead of fully spelled out names. Some examples of module
names:

- `d.rast` instead of `d.raster`,
- `r.resamp.*` instead of `r.resampling.*`
- `r.stats` instead of `r.statistics.*`
- `r.vect.stats` instead of `r.vector.statistics`
- `r.surf.*` instead of `r.surface.*`
- `v.rast.*` instead of `v.raster.*`

Some harmonisation has to be applied in names of options and eventually
their description too. For example:

- `r.support` has "map   Name of raster map"
- `r.random` has "input   Name of input raster map"
- `r.buildvrt` has "input   Name of input raster files`
- `r.carve` has "Name of input raster elevation map`
- `r.category` has "map   Name of raster map"
- `r.category.trim` has "input   input map"

- `g.region` has a set of `res` named options (`res`, `res3`, `nsres`,
  `swres`, `tbres`) where all this could be fully spelled out
  `resolution`


Perhaps a set of naming guidelines can be created available for all to consult.
For example, in the following link, from the QGIS project,

https://issues.qgis.org/projects/qgis/wiki/Adding_New_Tools_to_the_GRASS_Toolbox#Specific-rules-for-module-descriptions

it is mentioned:

  ''Avoid unnecessary "map", "layer" and "file", e.g. "Export raster"
  instead of "Export raster map layer''

Kind regards, Nikos