Good name for an class that holds a object with an onset time

Question

I'm creating a (Java) class to represent an object in a musical score that has a specific onset time, and possibly a duration as well. I need a good name for this class. Is something like "Timed" or "TimedObject" appropriate? I've tried to come up with something that ends in "-able" (like Runnable) but I can't think of anything good; "OnsetTimeable" sounds silly, because "OnsetTime" isn't a verb. I don't really like "MusicalObject" either since that doesn't imply the object has an onset time (a "musical object" could be anything related to the score).

Update: Musically, this class represents an abstraction of something that happens at a point in time in the score. This is supposed to be the superclass of classes like Note, KeyChange, MeterChange, DynamicMarking, TempoMark, etc.

Answer 1

What is the main service (or services) your object is supposed to propose to the rest of your system ?

I believe its name should represents the abstraction you want to make by designing it in the first place.

So far, we know what your object is made of (an onset times, ...), but we do not know what is does, and more importantly as baash05 points out, what it is: in a word, what it represents.

As mentioned in the question What’s the best approach to naming classes?, the single responsibility principle can also be a good approach.

If it must represent some common structure of any characteristics of a score (note, ...), a name like ScoreAttribute could be appropriate.

Answer 2

What is it, musically?

Is it a note? -> good name: "Note", or "TimedNote"
Is it a phrase? -> good name: "MusicalPhrase", or "Phrase"
etc.

Don't abstract the object from its context (for example, naming it "Timed"); choose a name thinking of what the object really is and what is its use in your program.

Answer 3

How about Temporal? Or TimedFigure, TemporalFigure ?

Answer 4

We don't need to know what your object does.. Any more then we need to know what class type "Cat" does.. (mine does very little, but I'd be loathed to create a SleepsAndPoops class)
The class name is what it "is".
Where is the need for a verb? dialog, stack, string, pen... I dont see a verb in any of their names?

I'd go with MusicNote..
All musical notes have a time element.. Really. Have you ever heard a note that didn't have a time element to it?

Then a MusicPhrase could have an array of MusicNotes and a MusicSong could have an array of phrases. MusicAlbam could have an array of MusicSongs..
I know I know a song is by definition musical but the name helps keep them together.

Answer 5

ScoreItem? MusicalEvent?

Answer 6

I concur with the others answering this thread; I'd generalize.

Think of creating a class, say named "TimedAction". This can be parameterized to do some sort of Action at a specified Time; then you simply tell the "TimedAction" what it's going to do at that time. This allows you to modify the Action, and gives you flexibility for other Actions that you may need to put in place.

The idea here is that you want something to happen at a given time. Instead of thinking of it as the somthing that you want to happen, think of it as the happening of something. Therefore, you create a class for happening "TimedAction" and parameterize the something. That's as opposed to your first instinct of creating a class for the something that has a happening.

Answer 7

This sounds like events in MIDI files.

Answer 8

Is it a class, or an interface? An interface should be driven by the needs of its callers. What can you do with an OnsetTimeable (calling it that for now)? Your tendency to propose names ending with -able suggests you think of it as an interface.

If you are only scoring music, rather than writing a program to play a score, I'd guess that most of the objects in the score would be more like simple data structures or "value objects" than true objects with operations. That's because when rendering an object (like onto a staff), encapsulation tends to be broken. This makes sense, because the point of rendering or serialization of an object is to capture all of its state. In this case, using concrete POJOs is probably sufficient.

Answer 9

It sounds like you may be describing a Section, or perhaps a Movement.