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You could have invented Fenwick trees

(www.cambridge.org)
131 points matt_d | 1 comments | 25 Jan 25 00:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.368s | source
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sundarurfriend ◴[25 Jan 25 12:31 UTC] No.42821250[source]▶
Tangential to the algorithm itself, this is about naming:

> Fenwick trees, also known as binary indexed trees

Every time I read something like this, I'm reminded of https://willcrichton.net/notes/naming-conventions-that-need-... . "Fenwick tree" makes it seem like some unknown strange entity, while "binary indexed tree" immediately makes it a lot more accessible and gives you a better handle on the concept too.

replies(2): >>42821816 #>>42822123 #
1. mbb70 ◴[25 Jan 25 14:23 UTC] No.42821816[source]▶
I'm reminded of a town in New Mexico named after the railroad paymaster because everyone said "I'm going to see Gallup to get paid" -> "I'm going to Gallup to get paid" -> "I'm going to Gallup".

Short, memorable names will always dominate precise, descriptive ones.

Finding short, memorable, precise and descriptive names is why "naming things is hard".