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Bug 23884 - Rename "incumbent settings object" to something less jargon-y
Summary: Rename "incumbent settings object" to something less jargon-y
Status: RESOLVED NEEDSINFO
Alias: None
Product: WHATWG
Classification: Unclassified
Component: HTML (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: PC Linux
: P2 normal
Target Milestone: Unsorted
Assignee: Ian 'Hixie' Hickson
QA Contact: contributor
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2013-11-21 15:52 UTC by Olli Pettay
Modified: 2014-01-02 23:13 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

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Description Olli Pettay 2013-11-21 15:52:04 UTC
"incumbent settings object" is rather hard to parse, and doesn't in its
name indicate what kind of object it is about.

Could it be called something like "effective caller" or
"effective script context".

(I'd probably rename "script settings object" to "script context")
Comment 1 Ian 'Hixie' Hickson 2013-11-21 19:41:29 UTC
"incumbent" means "currently holding office".
"settings object" seems self-explanatory.

It's the "settings object currently holding office".

This seems accurate. Why is it hard to parse?

The problem with "effective" is that it is confusing given the existence of "effective script origin", which I think is a more precise use of the word "effective" (as in, "fulfilling a specified function in fact, though not formally acknowledged as such", in contrast to the "real" origin). The problem with "context" is that we use the term almost 2000 times already, so it's getting a bit overused. "Caller" is ambiguous because there might not be a caller involved. Even "script" is a bit dubious since I expect I'll be starting to use this in other contexts in due course.

I agree that the terminology is a bit of a mess, though. I just don't know what would be better.
Comment 2 Bobby Holley (:bholley) 2013-11-21 21:39:44 UTC
FWIW, I think 'incumbent' is a great name for this concept, and does a great job of differentiating it from the other possibilities (incumbent script vs entry script).

Script Settings is a little weird, but I don't have a great alternative.
Comment 3 Ian 'Hixie' Hickson 2014-01-02 20:53:14 UTC
I'm closing this give the lack of proposals and the failure of my imagination to come up with any better ones, however, if anyone has a concrete proposal for how to improve these terms, please do reopen the bug.