Checked and template generic terminology

proposals/p2138.md

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+# Checked and template generic terminology
+
+<!--
+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/2138)
+
+<!-- toc -->
+
+## Table of contents
+
+-   [Abstract](#abstract)
+-   [Problem](#problem)
+-   [Proposal](#proposal)
+-   [Rationale](#rationale)
+
+<!-- tocstop -->
+
+## Abstract
+
+Change terminology from "generics" and "templates" to "checked generics" and
+"template generics". Afterwards, "generics" will be an umbrella term that
+include templates.
+
+## Problem
+
+The C++ community does "generic programming" using templates in C++, and so
+thinks of templates as a mechanism for implementing generics. In Carbon,
+templates and other generic features are more similar than they are different,
+so it is worthwhile to have an easy way to talk about things that apply to both.
+
+## Proposal
+
+Change terminology from "generics" and "templates" to "checked generics" and
+"template generics". Afterwards, "generics" will be an umbrella term that
+include templates.
+
+Some existing design docs give examples of the difference before and after this
+proposal:
+
+-   The [generics overview](/docs/design/generics/overview.md), for example,
+    currently demonstrates the current approach of using "generics" and
+    "templates".
+-   The
+    [generics section of the design overview](/docs/design/README.md#generics)
+    demonstrates the use of the proposed new terminology.
+
+## Rationale
+
+Using the terminology expected by the community supports these goals:
+
+-   [Code that is easy to read, understand, and write](/docs/project/goals.md#code-that-is-easy-to-read-understand-and-write)
+    since our documentation governing the interpretation of that code will be
+    more easily understood and with greater accuracy.
+-   [Interoperability with and migration from existing C++ code](/docs/project/goals.md#interoperability-with-and-migration-from-existing-c-code)
+    since there will be a smaller terminology gap between Carbon and C++.