Formal comment #98 (defect)

inconsistent use of prefixes: "fixnum-", "fx", and "fl"
Reported by:	Arthur A. Gleckler

Component:	arithmetic
Version:	5.91

In <16.3.2. Signalling fixnum operations>, the "fx"
prefix should be separated from the rest of each name
using a hyphen in exactly the way as the prefix "fixnum-"
is used, e.g. fxdiv should be fx-div.  Similarly, in
<16.4. Flonums>, the "fl-" prefix should be used
analogously to the "fixnum-" prefix for consistency.
Currently, the naming conventions are inconsistent.

RESPONSE:

The naming conventions should be explained in section 5.6.

The naming conventions that were used in the draft R6RS
were

    short, unpronounceable prefixes (fx and fl) are not
    followed by a hyphen

    prefixes that are actual words or can be pronounced
    as though they were actual words are followed by a
    hyphen, except when the first character following
    the hyphen would be something other than a letter,
    in which case the hyphen is omitted

    a predicate's name ends with a question mark if the
    name contains any letters; otherwise the predicate's
    name does not end with a question mark [1]

The names used in the draft R6RS are consistent with the
above conventions.  Whether the conventions are themselves
consistent is a matter of taste, on which no consensus is
yet evident.  Perhaps the best that can be said for fx+
and fl+ is that they have some precedent [2].

[1] http://www.r6rs.org/r6rs-editors/2006-July/001422.html
[2] Chez Scheme, Chicken, Gambit, and Larceny provide fx+
    by that name; Chez Scheme, Gambit, and Larceny provide
    fl+ by that name.