[llvm-dev] Style: getFoo() vs foo()

[Sam McCall via llvm-dev]

The coding guidelines say:
> Function names should be verb phrases (as they represent actions), and
command-like function should be imperative. The name should be camel case,
and start with a lower case letter (e.g. openFile() or isFoo()).

This means that functions that just compute or access a value (no
side-effects) should be named e.g. `getParent()`, rather than `parent()` as
they are in e.g. the standard library.

This is not a rule that is particularly strictly observed in practice :-)
Personally I find it adds noise and obscures the important difference
between functions called mostly for their side-effects and those called to
get at a value.

Swift's coding guidelines state this quite concisely:
> Name functions and methods according to their side-effects
> Those without side-effects should read as noun phrases, e.g.
x.distance(to: y), i.successor().
> Those with side-effects should read as imperative verb phrases, e.g.,
print(x), x.sort(), x.append(y).
(
https://swift.org/documentation/api-design-guidelines/#strive-for-fluent-usage
)

How do people feel about this change? Clearly a mix of these styles will
exist in practice for a long time (this is already the case!) but which
should be encouraged?

(*dons flame-retardant suit and mumbles something about Java*)
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