concat or join?

[boblytton]

I did prefer 'join' but now...

The std libraries use multiple names for concatenating two objects into one, suggesting the result e.g. append, operator+=, join, operator+, (and strcat). Split and join are used for ranges and views (threads use join too). I can't think of any occurrences of 'concat' (merge, append, insert etc are used).

On the surface split and join make a nice pair. However, join tend to be used where there is more to joining than simply concatenating viz:

• adding a separator
• you can't concatenate two tree graphs, but you can join them
• you can't concatenate two threads, but you can join them

[mattkretz]

This is purely a naming question, right? I find join to be less clear about the exact operation. A SQL join is not a concatenation either.

• append sounds like a modifying operation. I.e. x.append(y) modifies x to have y appended to it.
• operator+= and operator+ already have a meaning for simd
• Interestingly strcat seems like our best precedent: it takes two strings of immutable length and has to produce a new, larger string, which it returns.

[boblytton]

This is purely a naming question, right? Yes I raised it to be considered (but expect it to be rejected). I would have liked more consistency, but it seems this is not one of those places.

[mattkretz]

I'm not sure what you want me to do now? Do you want me to raise this question in the paper? I'd prefer you write a short paper on the topic with your thoughts on naming.