[GNC-dev] About budgets in 3.8, 3.9 and 3.10

[Frank H. Ellenberger]

Am 29.04.20 um 10:42 schrieb Geert Janssens:
> Op dinsdag 28 april 2020 18:35:16 CEST schreef John Ralls:
>>> On Apr 28, 2020, at 7:27 AM, Geert Janssens <geert.gnucash at kobaltwit.be>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> However numbers are not just meant for displaying, one needs to do
>>> calculations on them as well. And at that point signs will matter.
>>> Whether a certain number increase or decrease your balance is a matter of
>>> sign.
>>
>> Maybe we should change that: Instead of using operator+() and operator-() we
>> could have a balance class with functions credit() and debit(). It would
>> have subclasses AssetBalance, LiabilityBalance, and EquityBalance (or maybe
>> follow the European model and just do ActiveBalance and PassiveBalance)
>> whose overrides of credit() and debit() would do The Right Thing.
>>
>> Regards,
>> John Ralls

+1

> That's certainly something to consider for future development. It just encapsulates the math a 
> bit further. Nice thing there is that we only have to think about it once, namely the moment we 
> set up this class hierarchy.
> 
> Or not... data still has to enter gnucash and the outside world rarely speaks in debits or credits. 
> The receipt I get from my last restaurant visit just mentions an amount to pay, the csv I get 
> from my bank talks of deposit and withdrawal,...
> 
> So while good for internal representation I think gnucash will always have to provide the 
> convenience terms for data entry (or display) in addition to the more formal terms.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Geert

That level is in theory behind disabling
Edit->Preferences->Accounts->Labels:Use formal Accounting Labels and the
defaults for the action field.

Frank