Tweak naming and docs to hopefully be more comprehensible

consumer.go

@@ -4,10 +4,12 @@ package sarama
 type OffsetMethod int
 
 const (
-	// When RAW_OFFSET is passed as the OffsetMethod, OffsetValue is interpreted as the raw offset to start at.
-	RAW_OFFSET OffsetMethod = iota
-	// When LATEST_OFFSET is passed as the OffsetMethod, the broker is queried for the most recent valid offset.
-	LATEST_OFFSET OffsetMethod = iota
+	// METHOD_MANUAL causes the consumer to interpret the OffsetValue in the ConsumerConfig as the
+	// offset at which to start, allowing the user to manually specify their desired starting offset.
+	METHOD_MANUAL OffsetMethod = iota
+	// METHOD_NEWEST causes the consumer to start at the most recent available offset, as determined
+	// by querying the broker.
+	METHOD_NEWEST OffsetMethod = iota
 )
 
 // ConsumerConfig is used to pass multiple configuration options to NewConsumer.
@@ -23,9 +25,9 @@ type ConsumerConfig struct {
 	// The maximum amount of time (in ms) the broker will wait for MinFetchSize bytes to become available before it
 	// returns fewer than that anyways. The default of 0 is treated as no limit.
 	MaxWaitTime int32
-	// The method of determining which offset to start at
+	// The method used to determine at which offset to begin consuming messages.
 	OffsetMethod OffsetMethod
-	// Interpreted according to OffsetMethod
+	// Interpreted differently according to the value of OffsetMethod.
 	OffsetValue int64
 }
 
@@ -95,12 +97,12 @@ func NewConsumer(client *Client, topic string, partition int32, group string, co
 	c.broker = broker
 
 	switch config.OffsetMethod {
-	case RAW_OFFSET:
+	case METHOD_MANUAL:
 		if config.OffsetValue < 0 {
-			return nil, ConfigurationError("OffsetValue cannot be < 0 when OffsetMethod is RAW_OFFSET")
+			return nil, ConfigurationError("OffsetValue cannot be < 0 when OffsetMethod is MANUAL")
 		}
 		c.offset = config.OffsetValue
-	case LATEST_OFFSET:
+	case METHOD_NEWEST:
 		c.offset, err = c.getLatestOffset(true)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err

consumer_test.go

@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ func TestConsumerRawOffset(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	defer client.Close()
 
-	consumer, err := NewConsumer(client, "my_topic", 0, "my_consumer_group", &ConsumerConfig{OffsetMethod: RAW_OFFSET, OffsetValue: 1234})
+	consumer, err := NewConsumer(client, "my_topic", 0, "my_consumer_group", &ConsumerConfig{OffsetMethod: METHOD_MANUAL, OffsetValue: 1234})
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ func TestConsumerLatestOffset(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	defer client.Close()
 
-	consumer, err := NewConsumer(client, "my_topic", 0, "my_consumer_group", &ConsumerConfig{OffsetMethod: LATEST_OFFSET})
+	consumer, err := NewConsumer(client, "my_topic", 0, "my_consumer_group", &ConsumerConfig{OffsetMethod: METHOD_NEWEST})
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}