change airmass function names

Author: wholmgren

docs/sphinx/source/api.rst

@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ Airmass and atmospheric models
    :toctree: generated/
 
    location.Location.get_airmass
-   atmosphere.absoluteairmass
-   atmosphere.relativeairmass
+   atmosphere.absolute_airmass
+   atmosphere.get_relative_airmass
    atmosphere.pres2alt
    atmosphere.alt2pres
    atmosphere.gueymard94_pw

docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.5.2.rst

@@ -5,21 +5,35 @@ v0.5.2 (__, 2017)
 
 API Changes
 ~~~~~~~~~~~
-* removed unused 'pressure' arg from irradiance.liujordan function (:issue:`386`)
+* pvlib python is changing a handful of function names. In general, functions
+  that can calculate a quantity using multiple algorithms now start
+  with the prefix ``get_``. For example, ``relativeairmass`` can calculate
+  airmass using one of many ``model`` arguments. Its name has been changed
+  to ``get_relative_airmass``. The old function names remain in this
+  release, but will emit a ``PVLibDeprecationWarning`` when called. The
+  old functions will be removed in the 0.6 release. Functions composed
+  of multiple words jammed together have been renamed with underscores
+  separating the words (see above).
+  Each change is detailed below. (:issue:`427`)
+* Deprecated relativeairmass. relativeairmass will be removed in 0.6.
+  Use the new get_relative_airmass instead. (:issue:`427`)
+* Deprecated absoluteairmass. absoluteairmass will be removed in 0.6.
+  Use the new absolute_airmass instead. (:issue:`427`)
 * Deprecated irradiance.globalinplane. globalinplane will be removed in 0.6.
-  Use the new irradiance.poa_components instead. (:issue:`422`)
+  Use the new irradiance.poa_components instead. (:issue:`427`)
 * Added irradiance.poa_components. Function is the same as the now-deprecated
   irradiance.globalinplane, but adds 'poa_sky_diffuse' and
-  'poa_ground_diffuse' to the output. (:issue:`422`)
+  'poa_ground_diffuse' to the output. (:issue:`427`)
 * Deprecated irradiance.extraradiation. Use irradiance.get_extra_radiation
-  instead. irradiance.extraradiation will be removed in 0.6. (:issue:`422`)
+  instead. irradiance.extraradiation will be removed in 0.6. (:issue:`427`)
 * Deprecated irradiance.grounddiffuse. Use irradiance.get_ground_diffuse
-  instead. irradiance.grounddiffuse will be removed in 0.6. (:issue:`422`)
-* Added irradiance.get_poa_sky_diffuse. (:issue:`422`)
+  instead. irradiance.grounddiffuse will be removed in 0.6. (:issue:`427`)
+* Added irradiance.get_poa_sky_diffuse. (:issue:`427`)
 * Deprecated irradiance.total_irrad. Use irradiance.get_total_poa_irradiance
-  instead. irradiance.total_irrad will be removed in 0.6. (:issue:`422`)
+  instead. irradiance.total_irrad will be removed in 0.6. (:issue:`427`)
 * Removed 'klutcher' from get_sky_diffuse/total_irrad. This misspelling was
   deprecated long ago but never removed.
+* removed unused 'pressure' arg from irradiance.liujordan function (:issue:`386`)
 
 
 Enhancements

pvlib/atmosphere.py

@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 import pandas as pd
 from warnings import warn
 
+from pvlib._deprecation import deprecated
+
 APPARENT_ZENITH_MODELS = ('simple', 'kasten1966', 'kastenyoung1989',
                           'gueymard1993', 'pickering2002')
 TRUE_ZENITH_MODELS = ('youngirvine1967', 'young1994')
@@ -95,7 +97,7 @@ def alt2pres(altitude):
     return press
 
 
-def absoluteairmass(airmass_relative, pressure=101325.):
+def absolute_airmass(airmass_relative, pressure=101325.):
     '''
     Determine absolute (pressure corrected) airmass from relative
     airmass and pressure
@@ -134,7 +136,11 @@ def absoluteairmass(airmass_relative, pressure=101325.):
     return airmass_absolute
 
 
-def relativeairmass(zenith, model='kastenyoung1989'):
+absoluteairmass = deprecated('0.5.2', alternative='absolute_airmass',
+                             name='absoluteairmass')(absolute_airmass)
+
+
+def get_relative_airmass(zenith, model='kastenyoung1989'):
     '''
     Gives the relative (not pressure-corrected) airmass.
 
@@ -241,6 +247,10 @@ def relativeairmass(zenith, model='kastenyoung1989'):
     return am
 
 
+relativeairmass = deprecated('0.5.2', alternative='get_relative_airmass',
+                             name='relativeairmass')(get_relative_airmass)
+
+
 def gueymard94_pw(temp_air, relative_humidity):
     r"""
     Calculates precipitable water (cm) from ambient air temperature (C)