I've regretted trying to get too domain-specific with names. Better off using conventions if they exist in the functionality of the thing. It really lowers the communication barriers.
On the good side, for dev.to we have a type of notification that we can send to a segment of the users from the mothership. We haven't really used it but it's functionality we'd use to notify folks of interesting updates without being too obtrusive about it. I recall @andy
was working on it and really didn't have a good clear name in mind and we had a really good brainstorm and came up with Broadcast which is such a good word, it's remarkable it didn't come to us sooner. But it's so easy to say that in hindsight.
Just yesterday I wrote a little mini-rant on Google's naming and describing of "progressive web apps" and other things. It's a bit of a marketing + software naming hiccup, but I think it generally applies.
Going back to the first point, I once decided to name what should have absolutely been User as Customer because I thought it would encourage a more focused sales-oriented mindset. At that initial base stage it seemed to make sense. It was really confusing and regretful almost immediately.
Curious -- why was the Customer name so confusing? Were there other names in the domain revolving around "people" or was it just that User is so synonymous with "a representation of a human being in code form"?
It just seemed like every time we went to talk about the model, we had to clarify that customer was the main user model. Also it was Rails, where conventions are strong and everybody calls it user.
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To comment on each point:
Broadcastwhich is such a good word, it's remarkable it didn't come to us sooner. But it's so easy to say that in hindsight.UserasCustomerbecause I thought it would encourage a more focused sales-oriented mindset. At that initial base stage it seemed to make sense. It was really confusing and regretful almost immediately.Great points Ben!
Curious -- why was the
Customername so confusing? Were there other names in the domain revolving around "people" or was it just thatUseris so synonymous with "a representation of a human being in code form"?It just seemed like every time we went to talk about the model, we had to clarify that customer was the main user model. Also it was Rails, where conventions are strong and everybody calls it user.