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Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer?

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Anthony Capobianco <kiiwy112@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Friday, July 15, 2022 at 2:02:28 PM UTC+2, Juha Nieminen wrote:
>> Since std::move() does not guarantee that the contents will be 
>> moved, isn't it quite a misnomer? 
>> 
>> std::to_rvalue() might be more cryptic, but at least it would 
>> express much better what it's actually doing.
> 
> The name of the function doesn't describe what it does, it describes the intent of a dev using it.  
> You use it when you intend to move something. If you only intend to make it an rvalue reference, then you can cast it.
> The intent is different. The compiler doesn't care what you call it, your coworkers might. 

I think that the name 'std::move()' breaks more clarity conventions than
that.

'move()', as a verb, would indicate that the function itself does something,
in this case, that it does the moving. It would be completely concordant
with myriads of other such functions, like std::sort() (which itself does
the sorting), std::find() (which itself does the finding), std::copy()
(which itself does the copying) and so on.

Particularly that last one is extremely telling: Compare "std::copy()"
to "std::move()". They both sound, by their name, extraordinarily
closely related. It sounds like the former copies stuff from one
place to another (doing it itself), while the latter moves stuff
from one place to another (likewise doing it itself).

It would be highly bizarre if "std::copy()" would mean "this doesn't
actually copy anything, it just casts the parameter in such a manner
that it becomes copyable".

If the latter thing were needed, certainly it would be named something
clearer, like for example std::make_copyable(), or std::cast_to_copyable()
or something along those lines. Not just std::copy().

Likewise it would be highly bizarre if "std::sort()" did no sorting but
instead just somehow cast the parameter into something that can be sorted.

std::move() is extraordinarily unique among all standard library functions
in that it breaks this fundamental naming convention. Certainly someone
who knows well what std::copy() does but doesn't know what std::move()
does (but knows about move semantics) would assume that the latter does
the same thing as the former, but moving the elements instead of copying
them.

It can't even be a question of "move" being a short name. The standard
library doesn't shy away from using very long names if needed. Take for
example:

std::filesystem::recursive_directory_iterator::disable_recursion_pending()

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Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Juha Nieminen <nospam@thanks.invalid> - 2022-07-15 12:02 +0000
  Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2022-07-15 14:43 +0200
  Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2022-07-15 06:18 -0700
    Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2022-07-15 19:09 +0200
  Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Bo Persson <bo@bo-persson.se> - 2022-07-15 16:01 +0200
    Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Juha Nieminen <nospam@thanks.invalid> - 2022-07-16 18:21 +0000
      Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Bo Persson <bo@bo-persson.se> - 2022-07-16 21:11 +0200
        Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Juha Nieminen <nospam@thanks.invalid> - 2022-07-17 14:28 +0000
  Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Gawr Gura <gawrgura@mail.hololive.com> - 2022-07-15 08:34 -0700
  Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2022-07-15 16:03 +0000
    Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2022-07-15 19:12 +0200
      Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2022-07-16 19:24 +0000
  Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach@gmail.com> - 2022-07-15 23:08 +0200
  Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Paavo Helde <eesnimi@osa.pri.ee> - 2022-07-16 11:48 +0300
  Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2022-07-16 16:31 -0700
    Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2022-07-16 18:32 -0700
      Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2022-07-19 16:41 -0700
  Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? wij <wyniijj2@gmail.com> - 2022-07-18 16:14 -0700
    Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2022-07-19 07:59 +0200
  Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Anthony Capobianco <kiiwy112@gmail.com> - 2022-07-20 05:11 -0700
    Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Paavo Helde <eesnimi@osa.pri.ee> - 2022-07-20 15:26 +0300
    Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2022-07-21 01:16 +0200
    Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? "Fred. Zwarts" <F.Zwarts@KVI.nl> - 2022-07-21 09:47 +0200
    Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Juha Nieminen <nospam@thanks.invalid> - 2022-07-21 09:05 +0000
      Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Paavo Helde <eesnimi@osa.pri.ee> - 2022-07-21 13:12 +0300
      Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? red floyd <no.spam.here@its.invalid> - 2022-07-21 13:09 -0700
  Re: Is std::move() a misleading misnomer? Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2022-07-20 13:08 -0700

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