#1233: McLachlan should not define one-character variables ------------------------------------+--------------------------------------- Reporter: knarf | Owner: Type: enhancement | Status: new Priority: minor | Milestone: Component: EinsteinToolkit thorn | Version: development version Resolution: | Keywords: ------------------------------------+---------------------------------------

Comment (by hinder):

I do not like this solution. I think the code should be easily readable by someone who is familiar with the problem domain; i.e. the BSSN equations. In that domain, quantities like H, K, A, etc are understood to have certain meanings. Name conflicts are usually handled by some namespace feature. Your suggestion is a low-tech version of this. I worry that the code would rapidly become unreadable and much longer. Taking your suggestion to its logical conclusion, no thorn which ever expects to be inherited from could use simple, easy-to-understand, names for its grid functions. If a thorn chooses to inherit from another thorn, it should make sure not to use variables which are defined by the public interface of that thorn.

Why do you say it is impossible to use single-character variables in thorns inheriting from McLachlan? You just need to avoid shadowing the variables by choosing your temporary variable names so that they don't conflict. I assume the compiler warns about shadowed variable declarations, in which case you can rename your temporary variable when you see that warning.

One practical problem with changing the variable names is that existing parameter files which list these variables by name for output would become invalid, and this is always frustrating.