In this I agree with Paul Graham (and note I don't worship the guy). When talking about some lisps, he wrote [1]:
> As names, car and cdr are great: short, and just the right visual distance apart. The only argument against them is that they're not mnemonic. But (a) more mnemonic names tend to be over-specific (not all cdrs are tails), and (b) after a week of using Lisp, car and cdr mean the two halves of a cons cell, and languages should be designed for people who've used them for more than a week.
In particular, the last sentence. I find arguments that go "but this looks confusing to a beginner!" unconvincing. Language syntax and notation should be aimed at actual practitioners, not beginners.
> As names, car and cdr are great: short, and just the right visual distance apart. The only argument against them is that they're not mnemonic. But (a) more mnemonic names tend to be over-specific (not all cdrs are tails), and (b) after a week of using Lisp, car and cdr mean the two halves of a cons cell, and languages should be designed for people who've used them for more than a week.
In particular, the last sentence. I find arguments that go "but this looks confusing to a beginner!" unconvincing. Language syntax and notation should be aimed at actual practitioners, not beginners.
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[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21256727