Users of Phoenix LiveView: is update/2, update/3 and send_update/3 confusing?

Phoenix Forum Questions / Help
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#1

update/3 in the LiveView module updates the socket’s assigns (similar to Map.update!/3).

update/2 callback in LiveComponent module is invoked as part of the component’s lifecycle (if defined) and is also invoked (if defined) by send_update/3.

send_update/3 in the LiveView module updates a mounted component by invoking update/2.

Somebody new to the framework might get confused and have to remember which update is which.
A quick fix might be renaming the update/3 function to something like update_assign/3 if this is a real problem for newcomers.

I would like to know what other users of LiveView think.

#2

You explained them in short sentences, so they are not that confusing?

I’d rather stick to simple and short words for function name. Let’s not go down the road of:

  • Very long name, a la Objective-C: [ NSDistributedNotificationCenter postNotificationName: ...]
  • Too cute a name, a la Perl: croak? cull?

Many Elixir users are non-native English speakers. I find simple but imprecise word much easier to remember than long name or uncommon words.

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#3

Good points about the naming principles. I shouldn’t have provided an example.
Maybe the right approach to the thinking is:

update/2 and update/3 have very different functionality but have the same name when using
LiveComponent. I know I was able to explain it but for a newcomer this can be I believe confusing.

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