canpolat@programming.dev to Programming@programming.devEnglish · edit-211 months agoFalsehoods Programmers Believe About Nameswww.kalzumeus.comexternal-linkmessage-square13fedilinkarrow-up166arrow-down12
arrow-up164arrow-down1external-linkFalsehoods Programmers Believe About Nameswww.kalzumeus.comcanpolat@programming.dev to Programming@programming.devEnglish · edit-211 months agomessage-square13fedilink
minus-squareCorngoodlinkfedilinkarrow-up29·11 months agoIt’s all reasonable stuff except maybe: People’s names are all mapped in Unicode code points. I don’t see how you could avoid this this in software that needs to ask the user their name. I think it’s definitely a good idea to avoid using names wherever possible, and definitely don’t try to do anything clever with them. When necessary, software can just be clear: “in unicode, what should I call you?” "in unicode, who is making this credit card transaction?’
minus-squareSemi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.sociallinkfedilinkarrow-up29arrow-down1·11 months agoUsers: “I don’t speak unicode”
minus-squareCorngoodlinkfedilinkarrow-up13·11 months agoHaha, yeah, I didn’t mean literally telling them that. More like giving them a text field that can only contain unicode characters, which is pretty standard.
minus-squarepivot_root@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkarrow-up8·11 months agoProgrammers: “\u{004A}\u{006F}\u{0068}\u{006E}”
minus-squareSpzi@lemm.eelinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up7·11 months agoYou can do that when you control the frontend UI. Then, you can set up the input field for their name, applying input validation. But I would rather not rely on telling the user, in hopes they understand and comply. If they have ways to do it wrong, they will.
It’s all reasonable stuff except maybe:
I don’t see how you could avoid this this in software that needs to ask the user their name.
I think it’s definitely a good idea to avoid using names wherever possible, and definitely don’t try to do anything clever with them.
When necessary, software can just be clear:
Users: “I don’t speak unicode”
Haha, yeah, I didn’t mean literally telling them that. More like giving them a text field that can only contain unicode characters, which is pretty standard.
Programmers: “\u{004A}\u{006F}\u{0068}\u{006E}”
You can do that when you control the frontend UI. Then, you can set up the input field for their name, applying input validation.
But I would rather not rely on telling the user, in hopes they understand and comply. If they have ways to do it wrong, they will.