Rename me -> self

proposals/p1382.md

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+# Rename `me` -> `self`
+
+<!--
+Part of the Carbon Language project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM
+Exceptions. See /LICENSE for license information.
+SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception
+-->
+
+[Pull request](https://github.com/carbon-language/carbon-lang/pull/1382)
+
+<!-- toc -->
+
+## Table of contents
+
+-   [Problem](#problem)
+-   [Background](#background)
+-   [Proposal](#proposal)
+-   [Rationale](#rationale)
+-   [Alternatives considered](#alternatives-considered)
+    -   [Don't change anything](#dont-change-anything)
+    -   [`this`](#this)
+
+<!-- tocstop -->
+
+## Problem
+
+We've tried the `fn MethodName[me: Self]()` syntax for a while, and from our
+experience the brevity of `me` is not worth doing something novel in this space.
+We have found that `me` doesn't read well in practice.
+
+## Background
+
+The current method syntax, including these choices, was decided in
+questions-for-leads issue
+[#494: Method syntax](https://github.com/carbon-language/carbon-lang/issues/494)
+and implemented in proposal
+[#722: Nominal classes and methods](https://github.com/carbon-language/carbon-lang/pull/722).
+
+Looking at other languages that use reserved word for the receiver value:
+
+| When       | Language   | Receiver when<br />accessing members | Receiver value | Receiver type |
+| ---------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------ | -------------- | ------------- |
+| 1983       | C++        | implicit                             | `this`         | ---           |
+| 1991       | Python     | explicit                             | `self`         | ---           |
+| 1995       | Java       | implicit                             | `this`         | ---           |
+| 1995       | JavaScript | explicit                             | `this`         | ---           |
+| 2000       | C#         | implicit                             | `this`         | ---           |
+| 2009       | Go         | explicit                             | (see below)    | ---           |
+| 2010       | Rust       | explicit                             | `self`         | `Self`        |
+| 2011       | Kotlin     | implicit                             | `this`         | ---           |
+| 2012       | TypeScript | explicit                             | `this`         | `this`        |
+| 2014       | Swift      | implicit                             | `self`         | `Self`        |
+| previously | Carbon     | explicit                             | `me`           | `Self`        |
+| proposed   | Carbon     | explicit                             | `self`         | `Self`        |
+
+In detail:
+
+-   C++ uses
+    [`this` for address of the receiver value](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/this).
+    C++23 includes
+    [an explicit `this` facility](https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2021/p0847r7.html).
+    Examples in the proposal frequently use `self` as the name of the parameter,
+    and `Self` as its type.
+-   Swift uses
+    [`self` for the receiver value](https://docs.swift.org/swift-book/LanguageGuide/Methods.html#ID238).
+    and
+    [`Self` for its type](https://docs.swift.org/swift-book/ReferenceManual/Types.html#ID610).
+-   Rust uses
+    [`self` for the receiver value](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/keyword.self.html)
+    and
+    [`Self` for its type](https://doc.rust-lang.org/rust-by-example/fn/methods.html).
+-   C# uses
+    [`this` for a reference to the receiver value](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/keywords/this).
+-   Python as a convention uses `self` for the receiver value, but it's almost
+    universally followed.
+-   Go conventionally uses an abbreviation of the type name.
+
+Some history about the use of `self` in programming languages is documented in
+[this StackOverflow answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/1080192/624900),
+including that `self` is also used in Smalltalk, Modula-3, Delphi/Object Pascal,
+and Objective-C.
+
+## Proposal
+
+Use `self` instead of `me` to be consistent with Swift and Rust.
+
+## Rationale
+
+This is consistent with Carbon's goal to make
+[Code that is easy to read, understand, and write](/docs/project/goals.md#code-that-is-easy-to-read-understand-and-write)
+by choosing a keyword for this role that is less surprising to users.
+
+## Alternatives considered
+
+### Don't change anything
+
+We could stay with the status quo, which has the benefit that `me` is shorter
+than `self`. There are two considerations:
+
+-   For accessing members of the current object, the chart in
+    [the background section](#background) shows plenty of precedent for
+    requiring a 4 character explicit keyword.
+-   We would also like to reduce ceremony when declaring the signature of a
+    method. For this concern, both `me: Self` and `addr me: Self*` are already
+    longer than what other languages use in practice. It would probably be
+    better to solve this problem with a shortcut approach like Rust
+    ([1](https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch05-03-method-syntax.html),
+    [2](https://doc.rust-lang.org/rust-by-example/fn/methods.html)), where
+    `&self` is short for `self: &Self` and `&mut self` is short for
+    `self: &mut Self`.
+
+### `this`
+
+We could also switch to `this`, primarily to benefit
+[C++ users](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/this). This had a few
+disadvantages:
+
+-   We are worried that it frequently not being a pointer would be surprising to
+    those C++ users.
+-   As noted in [the background section](#background), C++23 code using explicit
+    this frequently uses the name `self`.
+-   We view it as an advantage to use the same spelling for the variable `self`
+    as for the type `Self`, and while `this` might make an acceptable name for
+    the object parameter, `Self` is much more strongly established as the name
+    for the current class, for example in PL research, and there is no precedent
+    for a type named `This`.