# PR-531: Renaming of files, functions, and macros

**URL:** <https://community.openpbs.org/t/pr-531-renaming-of-files-functions-and-macros/847>\
**Category:** Developers\
**Created:** [January 24, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://community.openpbs.org/t/pr-531-renaming-of-files-functions-and-macros/847 "2018-01-24T18:53:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mkaro](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.openpbs.org/mkaro/32/85_2.png) [@mkaro](https://community.openpbs.org/u/mkaro)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://community.openpbs.org/t/pr-531-renaming-of-files-functions-and-macros/847/1 "2018-01-24T18:53:29Z")

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Pull request 531 was recently filed in the PBS Pro repository… [https://github.com/PBSPro/pbspro/pull/531](https://github.com/PBSPro/pbspro/pull/531)

The PR changes the names of several components associated with linked lists, commonly used throughout PBS Pro. The PR does not contain any functional changes to the code that I am able to ascertain.

My question to the development community is whether these changes are seen as generally useful. Speaking as someone who has worked with the software for years and is familiar with the current names, the prospect of changing them is not entirely appealing. However, if the community feels there is value to the changes I’m willing to accept them.

Please state your preference in this thread as to whether the PR should be accepted. Thanks to @minghui for proposing the change.

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**Author:** ![billnitzberg](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.openpbs.org/billnitzberg/32/6_2.png) [@billnitzberg](https://community.openpbs.org/u/billnitzberg)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://community.openpbs.org/t/pr-531-renaming-of-files-functions-and-macros/847/2 "2018-01-24T20:25:59Z")

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@mkaro – thanks for posting this! I would be great to get some additional input from others working on the code.

From my perspective, these changes certainly increase readability of the code – a very good thing.

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**Author:** ![subhasisb](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.openpbs.org/subhasisb/32/12_2.png) [@subhasisb](https://community.openpbs.org/u/subhasisb)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 6:39am UTC](https://community.openpbs.org/t/pr-531-renaming-of-files-functions-and-macros/847/3 "2018-01-29T06:39:16Z")

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I agree in principle about accepting any refactoring that helps readability, however, this does not seem making this more readable to me.

I went through the change and I do not like the renaming of pbs\_list\_head to pbs\_list\_node. The current name, i.e., pbs\_list\_head actually is more readable, and tells me that we are passing a pointer to the head of the linked list, and not some random node in the linked list. Of course, the variable itself is called phead (in most places) signifying that it is indeed the head of the linked list, but having the type itself point that out is actually more readable (ie, if you are looking at prototypes which do not include the parameter name).

In fact the current code defines two types to make things more readable…  
typedef struct pbs\_list\_link {  
struct pbs\_list\_link \*ll\_prior;  
struct pbs\_list\_link \*ll\_next;  
void \*ll\_struct;  
} pbs\_list\_link;  
typedef pbs\_list\_link pbs\_list\_head;

Anyways, this part is really code review comments, so I will post this in the github code review itself.

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**Author:** ![mkaro](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.openpbs.org/mkaro/32/85_2.png) [@mkaro](https://community.openpbs.org/u/mkaro)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 6:30pm UTC](https://community.openpbs.org/t/pr-531-renaming-of-files-functions-and-macros/847/4 "2018-01-29T18:30:51Z")

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I tend to agree with @subhasisb. We’ll allow some time for additional comments. Any thoughts @minghui?

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**Author:** ![mkaro](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.openpbs.org/mkaro/32/85_2.png) [@mkaro](https://community.openpbs.org/u/mkaro)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2018, 7:28pm UTC](https://community.openpbs.org/t/pr-531-renaming-of-files-functions-and-macros/847/5 "2018-02-01T19:28:02Z")

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Any more comments on changing the linked list structure names? I’m really on the fence with this change. Without additional support from developers, I’m inclined to suggest it be closed. If anyone has an opinion or technical argument (for or against) please offer it here.