Is there an abstraction for the following three words?
- Order confirmation
- Quotation
- Invoice
I want to create a base class for them but I can't find a word that describes all three.
hypernymssingle-word-requests
Is there an abstraction for the following three words?
I want to create a base class for them but I can't find a word that describes all three.
Best Answer
With respect, you don't actually want a synonym, you want an abstraction that encompasses the general case. You say as much yourself when you talk about a "base class".
So why not look at what is common in these three things?
Each of them is a communication of information about an order, between two or more parties. Each of them will have a date, a sender, an order reference, and one or more recipients.
Sounds awfully like we are talking about a letter. Or more generally, a communication. Or maybe correspondence.
As a programmer, I'd probably go for something like order-correspondence. Then, when I realise that I also need a class for receipt I've got a ready-made base class.
On the other hand, given such a problem, I'd probably go back to the design board and have a good think about what data I have to deal with, and for what purposes, and hope that having a serious think about the design would lead me naturally to the identification of good entity names.
In other words, if the names aren't obvious, the design probably needs more thought.