Re: [boost] Re: algorithms namespace

From: Dave Gomboc (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-02-21 18:10:14

> Well. It's actually the opposite. Because English is 
> (presumably) your first language, you prefer the 
> non-abbreviated "filesystem" over "fs". From the perspective 
> of someone who doesn't "think in English", the two have 
> pretty much the same inherent value, i.e. they are arbitrary 
> identifiers.

>From the perspective of this English-speaking software developer, I
recognize filesystem, and I also know what fs means.  Furthermore, the
first time I hear "fs", I imagine that I was able to guess from the
context it was used in that fs means filesystem.

>From the perspective of a developer who knows English but whose native
tongue is not English, filesystem is understandable, because the
component words, file and system, either are known or are looked up in a
translation dictionary.  "fs", on the other hand, is incomprehensible
without supporting documentation.

> A mental mapping translates these identifiers 
> into the entities they represent. Since the extra letters in 
> the longer identifier do not add any semantic value to 
> non-English speakers, they are merely clutter and do not 
> contribute to readability.

You're missing the point -- the extra letters *do* add semantic value to
those who speak English, but not as a first language.

> Your observation that "stdio" is a _word_ in non-English 
> programmer cultures, and not an abbreviation of "standard 
> input/output", is very much in line with the above.

Stdio was *not* a word to them, it was just a jumble of random
characters.  The whole concept of "standard" had been lost!

Dave