[webkit-dev] Terminology for giving up ownership: take, release, move

[Michael Catanzaro]

On Mon, 2016-09-05 at 10:23 -0700, Filip Pizlo wrote:
> The use of "take" for these methods grinds my gears, for the same
> reason you were distracted: "take" describes the desires of the
> caller, but that doesn't work for me because I read
> "fred.makeCoffee()" as "makeCoffee()" being an imperative verb phrase
> and "fred" as being the subject that will make me the coffee.  So,
> "HashMap::take" means to me that the HashMap is taking something from
> me, rather than releasing something to me.
> 
> I wonder if there is anyone who is surprised more by release than by
> take, and who would find it strange to say
> ExceptionOr::releaseReturnValue.

I'm more used to seeing "release" used with smart pointers and "take"
used with data structures, but I like your argument that the semantics
of "take" are backwards. "Release" is clear in either case.

Michael