Updated 2018-09-28 12:52:42 by PeterLewerin ▲

A fitting and catchy phrase for the {*} syntax element, used to indicate the {expand} functionality.

  • polyphemus operator: Jeff Hobbs from the trenches [1]

From the same thread:

  • wart: Mark Roseman [2]

On the {*} page, JMN suggests:

  • nipple: "which is clearly better than a wart"

Since I asked the question and wondering now, why this seems to be an unsolved problem: My stk two suggestions are:

  • bellybutton: Because that's, what it looks like...
  • Deeper Meaning of...: Coming from Douglas Adams The Deeper Meaning of Liff (JHJL Dear WikiGnomes, it is Liff not Life), where he invented all the until-then-unknown words for the actions and things we all know, but have no words for. It also somehow matches the functionality of {*}, since it gets up the deeper meaning of what it follows, and for {*}$var you can say The deeper meaning of $var, which is, what it is...

slebetman: Why not the most obvious: the expansion operator. -- Lars H: Or perhaps expansion prefix, since it's rather different from "expr operators". -- SPB: expansion operator has clear meaning. Maybe one could use 'expop for short? Nice because one can intuitively use it in a sentence: expop the list and have the right intuitive connotation...maybe?

AM Too prozaic :) I suggest: accolade. My reasons: the sign { is called an accolade in Dutch, but more importantly the word of old is the name of some intricate dance from the French court, elegant yet complicated.

stk ...and because of Tcl Marketing discussion...

EKB I like prosaic. "Expansion operator" sounds good to me. It says what it does, and will make sense to programmers from other languages. It could also be called the "Polyphemus operator." Something like this: "Oh, that? It's an expansion operator. Because it looks like an eye, it was officially named 'Polyphemus', after the cyclops." ("Wart" and "nipple" made me laugh, but I'd rather not have to use that when introducing people to Tcl!)

  • If it looks like an eye, why not just the eye operator? It can even be nicely explained then: "The eye operator is for looking into the next argument." (KD)
  • explode: descriptive because something which was one piece breaks into multiple pieces, and it looks like a little explosion - Colin Macleod.

MG also likes "expansion operator" (especially given that {*} used to be {expand}, if only for a brief time), though "explode" is the name used for similar things in PHP, and I believe some other languages, too.

TJK If you like cute names then how about splat (a common name for "*"), other wise I would vote for expansion trigraph. -- stk As a technical term, I like expansion trigraph, but it's very C-centric and it's not a "cool name" for non-Tclers. -- Lars H: Also, it is syntactically very different from the C trigraphs, where the usual meaning of the characters is overridden when combined in that particular way. In {*} all characters retain their usual interpretation, and it is only when they occur in a particular position that the combination means anything special.

LV How about scream? The {*} reminds me of a famous painting [3]... stk Scream is brilliant... EKB I agree. Or it could be the Munch Operator. It sounds like it came from some deep computation-theoretical source, but actually it's the painter of The Scream!

escargo - How about reveal (or the somewhat more risque, disrobe)?

stk How will this go on, does someone "close" the time for new entries in the poll after a week or so and then start a vote or something?

LV Since this isn't an official function, it will go on until the community in general sees a term that they like and start using it...

stk Sure, I know that. I just thought... since it was announced as a "poll" not as a "hanging around discussion", I would expect, that someone actually polls... ;-)

LV I guess, from the poll point of view, someone could summarize the results here at the bottom, with people updating as they vote on existing names or add new ones...

EKB OK, I'll take a shot

JJM Leading expander.

AMG: Making up silly names is fun! How about dismember or dismemberment operator? Mmm, slicy! (Okay, that was scary.)

stk: "And now, Tcl 8.5 introducing (put in, whatever wins) a creation of the Dept. of silly names, a branch of the famous "Ministry of silly walks" [4]

KBK: How about 'splice', because it splices a list into a command under construction? Given that it has braces surronding it, we could say "Splice the Main Brace!" That would please Pastafarians, and would indeed be familiar to anyone who knows sea language (C language?). In nautical usage, it's come to mean, "let's have a drink!" Ideally of fine whisky, which may come from a stained coffee cup. The {*} looks a bit like a spill surrounded by the ring from the base of a cup, doesn't it?

Peter Shawhan: RS observed on {expand} that "{expand} is, so to speak, the inverse of list". How about calling it the unlist operator?

JMN Atoning for my earlier contribution, I now suggest: Bracelet. Not just cute - but we can do 'contrived' too! Formed from : Brace List Expansion Trigraph/Trio :)

...and if that's not contrived enough: Braces 'Round Asterisk Causes Expanded List Equivalent Term/Tcl. It looks sort of like a jeweled bracelet.. and I figure it's a little easier in corporate situations to refer to the Tcl Bracelet than the Tcl nipple. (especially if you pronounce T C L as Tickle.)

TP Wart is both a visual clue and a commentary of the Perlification of the Tcl syntax caused by the operator.

stevel - "freckle"

CMcC it's the goatse operator. It should have been {|} but what can you do? FB - I like!

Perl/Python/Whatever user: My language is better than yours, because it has <some feature>.

Tcl user: That's all fine and dandy, but does your language have the goatse operator?

Perl/Python/Whatever user: ...

Tcl user: I win. Now leave us grownups alone and go play in the backyard.

NL Please do not use explode as it have a different meaning in PHP (more like split) and will confuse everyone. hat0 I'd recommend against splice for the same reason..both php and perl have other meanings for splice. I'd also recommend against anything "clever" because we're going to be stuck with whatever settles out for a long time, and what's "clever" now may just seem stupid five years from now. Keep it simple, easy to understand.

[shoo] prefix or scatter- faran- scip-prefix, maybe goro- or leak-operator?

FB: How about "braster", short for "braced asterisk"?

[MT]: I say 'unravel'; just because it implies deep thoughts and a sense of mystery.

pcam: What about "unwind" in the sense of : to separate the tangled parts of; disentangle. ?

It's quite obviously a yoni. As an old Kyokushin practitioner (it's about 30 years since I last was in a dojo), I can also see it as a Kanku, except for the lack of an enclosing circle.

Cumulative List

  • Accolade
  • Bellybutton
  • Bracelet
  • Braster
  • Deeper Meaning of...
  • Dismember
  • Dismemberment Operator
  • Disrobe
  • Expansion operator
  • Expansion prefix
  • Expansion token
  • Expansion Trigraph
  • Explode (deprecated -- see comment by NL above)
  • Faran prefix
  • Freckle
  • Goatse operator
  • Goro operator
  • Kanku
  • Leading Expander
  • Leak operator
  • Munch Operator
  • Nipple
  • Polyphemus operator
  • Reveal
  • Scatter prefix
  • Scip prefix
  • Scream
  • Splat
  • Splice
  • Ungroup
  • Unlist
  • Unravel
  • Unwind
  • Yoni
  • Wart

Top 3

  • Your name here: 1. Your favorite 2. Your 2nd favorite 3. Your 3rd favorite
  • AvL: 1. Splice 2. Expansion operator 3. Unlist
  • NL: 1. Expansion operator 2. Expansion prefix 3. Unlist
  • xpto: 1. Nipple 2. Bellybutton 3. Large Vagina LOL. The * within the braces it seems so much like it! Kidding, just for fun!
  • AW: 1. Expansion prefix 2. Deeper Meaning of 3. Splice
  • Sarnold: 1. Scream 2. Polyphemus operator 3. Bracelet
  • escargo: 1. Expansion prefix 2. Leading Expander 3. Expansion token
  • LV: 1. Scream 2. Expansion 3. splat
  • EKB: 1. Unlist 2. Ungroup 3. Munch Operator
  • stk: 1. Scream 2. Munch Operator 3. Deeper Meaning of (sorry for voting my own, but I kind of like it...)
  • AM: 1. Splice 2. Munch Operator 3. Deeper Meaning of (though it is a tad long ... De-Em-O for short?)
  • dzach: 1. Unlist 2. Expansion operator 3. Munch operator (it looks like we need a mechanism to contact polls on the wiki)
  • Lars H: 1. Bracelet 2. Expansion prefix 3. Unlist
  • UK: 1. Splice
  • GS: 1. Bracelet 2. Splice 3. Unlist
  • MAKR: 1. Expansion operator 2. Unlist 3. Splice
  • SPB: 1. Zap 2. expop (Expansion operator) 3. Unlist
  • FB: 1. Ungroup 2. Expand 3. Explode
  • hat0: 1. Expansion operator/prefix 2. splat 3. unlist
  • [_lys]: 1. Expansion (operator) 2. splice. 3. unlist.
  • MG: 1. Expansion operator/prefix/token 2. unlist 3. splice (though it's a distant third)
  • pcam: 1. Unwind 2. Ungroup 3. Expand

[joekrahn] - 2009-10-23 01:35:42

Is the "standard" name for {*} still undecided? How about the "reparse" operator? The content is not really changing, just the tokenization, which Tcl calls words. The Dodekalogue essentially describes {*} as applying an extra cycle through the parser.

aricb - it may not have an official name, but people seem to be calling it the expansion operator or something similar. If you choose to call it something else, better clarify what you're talking about or people are likely to be confused.

Category Glossary