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From: Bill O. <bil...@sa...> - 2007-07-24 14:47:46
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Hi all! Our R&D organization has been asked to review all message files for cleanup - the goal to remove obsolete and inconsistent terms. This is not just Firebird message files. To assist, our IT group built a tool to scan message files and flag potential changes. Our testers have scanned our copy of the Firebird message database, and they came up with this list. I will have to make these changes internally. I'll enter a tracker ticket tomorrow to request these changes be applied in FB2, unless I hear back. Some of these changes regard consistency, and could be argued both ways, but you can see the spellings we've adopted below. I suppose it would be best for me to run this tool on the HEAD version of the message file - I can do this before I enter the ticket. ERROR: cancelled (Non-standard Spelling - use "canceled") Note: There is only one "l" in the U.S. English spelling. (Two "l's" is British.) ERROR: data base (Misspelled Word - use "database") ERROR: datatype (Misspelled Word - use "data type") Note: Spell as one word only in the context of XML datatypes libraries, following the W3C's convention. ERROR: etc (Deprecated Abbreviation - use "and so on") Note: Do not use Latin abbreviations. ERROR: file name (Non-standard Spelling - use "filename") ERROR: id (Incorrect Capitalization - use "ID") Note: Do not use "id" as a short form of "ID" (meaning "identifiers"). ERROR: username (Incorrect Term - use "user name, User Name") -bill |
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From: Paul B. <pa...@wa...> - 2007-07-24 14:54:54
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> ERROR: cancelled (Non-standard Spelling - use "canceled") Note: There is > only > one "l" in the U.S. English spelling. (Two "l's" is British.) And thats non standard? Maybe too you it is - but its fine by me :-) Paul |
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From: Martijn T. <m.t...@up...> - 2007-07-24 14:59:58
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> > ERROR: cancelled (Non-standard Spelling - use "canceled") Note: There is > > only > > one "l" in the U.S. English spelling. (Two "l's" is British.) > > And thats non standard? > Maybe too you it is - but its fine by me :-) > > Paul Don't get aggrevated and a red-coloured face there now Paul. ;-) Martijn Tonies Database Workbench - tool for InterBase, Firebird, MySQL, NexusDB, Oracle & MS SQL Server Upscene Productions http://www.upscene.com My thoughts: http://blog.upscene.com/martijn/ Database development questions? Check the forum! http://www.databasedevelopmentforum.com |
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From: Paul B. <pa...@wa...> - 2007-07-24 15:10:57
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> > > ERROR: cancelled (Non-standard Spelling - use "canceled") Note: There is > > > only > > > one "l" in the U.S. English spelling. (Two "l's" is British.) > > > > And thats non standard? > > Maybe too you it is - but its fine by me :-) > > > > Paul > > Don't get aggrevated and a red-coloured face there now Paul. Just wanted to gently point out where the english language came from :-) Paul |
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From: Paul R. <pr...@ib...> - 2007-07-24 15:15:13
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On Tuesday 24 July 2007 16:47, Bill Oliver wrote: > ERROR: etc (Deprecated Abbreviation - use "and so on") Note: Do not use > Latin abbreviations. > I'm intrigued. Why deprecate latin abbreviations? It doesn't make sense to me. And this is possibly the worst example you could choose. etc is as english (linguistically) as any other part of the language. Paul -- Paul Reeves http://www.ibphoenix.com Supporting users of Firebird and InterBase |
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From: Milan B. <mi...@pa...> - 2007-07-24 15:48:08
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Paul Reeves wrote: >>ERROR: etc (Deprecated Abbreviation - use "and so on") Note: Do not use >>Latin abbreviations. > > I'm intrigued. Why deprecate latin abbreviations? And "and so on" isn't really an abbreviation, unless you write it: aso. Which nobody would understand. Example: "Usage of stored procedures, triggers, aso. is very hard." :) -- Milan Babuskov http://fbexport.sourceforge.net |
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From: Leyne, S. <Se...@br...> - 2007-07-24 16:31:39
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Bill, > ERROR: cancelled (Non-standard Spelling - use "canceled") Note: There is > only one "l" in the U.S. English spelling. (Two "l's" is British.) As a Canadian, who is stuck between the British and US spellings for many terms, I must point out: According to the Microsoft's "English (US)" dictionary, both spellings are valid. Further, as search at Dictionary.com shows that only 1 of 3 dictionary sources noted that "cancelled" was a _British_ spelling, the other 2 show it as a valid US spelling. It would seem that the current spelling is valid, in both the US and UK (and related), so it should remain as is. Sean |
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From: Paul B. <pa...@wa...> - 2007-07-24 16:39:27
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> > ERROR: cancelled (Non-standard Spelling - use "canceled") Note: There > is > > only one "l" in the U.S. English spelling. (Two "l's" is British.) > > As a Canadian, who is stuck between the British and US spellings for > many terms, I must point out: > > According to the Microsoft's "English (US)" dictionary, both spellings > are valid. > > Further, as search at Dictionary.com shows that only 1 of 3 dictionary > sources noted that "cancelled" was a _British_ spelling, the other 2 > show it as a valid US spelling. > > It would seem that the current spelling is valid, in both the US and UK > (and related), so it should remain as is. Pedant :-) But nice. Paul |
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From: Leyne, S. <Se...@br...> - 2007-07-24 16:47:57
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Paul, > Pedant :-) For those, including me, who didn't know what pedant meant: 1. a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning. 2. a person who overemphasizes rules or minor details. =20 3. a person who adheres rigidly to book knowledge without regard to common sense. =20 4. Obsolete. a schoolmaster. =20 Sean P.S. I simply wanted to justify my point -- simply saying "I don't agree" would be just "schoolboy'ish". |
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From: Paul B. <pa...@wa...> - 2007-07-25 06:20:54
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Sean, > > Pedant :-) > > For those, including me, who didn't know what pedant meant: > > 1. a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning. > > 2. a person who overemphasizes rules or minor details. > 3. a person who adheres rigidly to book knowledge without regard to > common sense. > 4. Obsolete. a schoolmaster. > > > Sean > > P.S. I simply wanted to justify my point -- simply saying "I don't > agree" would be just "schoolboy'ish". Sean it was meant in this context: >From Wikipedia.. "However some people take pride in being a pedant, especially with regard to the use of the English language. In an attempt to avoid censure, people who wish to make a correction often preface it with "not wishing to be pedantic, but ..." or "without being a pedant, ...". And although the usage outlined above is generally correct, there is a lively usage of pedantry in the UK. Especially in letters to newspapers and magazines. And you justified your point most excellently. (hmm one l or 2l's)? Paul |
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From: Leyne, S. <Se...@br...> - 2007-07-24 16:42:52
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Bill, > ERROR: etc (Deprecated Abbreviation - use "and so on") Note: Do not use > Latin abbreviations. This request would seem to be a SAS'ism -- my search does not show that this is a "Deprecated Abbreviation", quiet the contrary it is actively used. The fact that it is of Latin origin is not important, heck 30% of the English (both US and UK) language is of Latin origin -- the fact that is has been used since the 1100's and it's meaning in understood at a glance, is more important. Sean |
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From: Dean H. <dea...@dl...> - 2007-07-24 23:40:59
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> > ERROR: etc (Deprecated Abbreviation - use "and so on") Note: Do not
> > use Latin abbreviations.
>
> This request would seem to be a SAS'ism -- my search does not show that
> this is a "Deprecated Abbreviation", quiet the contrary it is actively
> used.
Indeed, Google returns 954,000,000 pages with "etc" in it, so it seems like
plenty of people are still using it...
I would say many of those "errors" could be debatable ("username" as a
single word, for example - what's wrong with that?) If they truly are used
inconsistently *within the Firebird messages file*, then you could flag it
as an error. But I think any attempt to force "rules" on English by some
automated tool is bound for failure...
Dean.
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From: Leyne, S. <Se...@br...> - 2007-07-24 23:53:15
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Dean,
> Indeed, Google returns 954,000,000 pages with "etc" in it, so it seems
> like plenty of people are still using it...
That search does not show the number of uses of the word "etc" in the
correct context, as the search also returns results for:
- Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc.
- ETC Group
- ETC Computer
- etc - university of toronto
- etc...news - East Toronto Communities Newspaper
- ETC - Everything To Connect
- Mail Boxes Etc. Canada (which is a mail box rental group)
> I would say many of those "errors" could be debatable ("username" as a
> single word, for example - what's wrong with that?)
Interesting point, a search of dictionary.com shows that "username" is
valid, with 2 sources cited.
Personally, I was fine with using "User Name".
Sean
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From: Bill O. <bil...@sa...> - 2007-07-25 14:42:36
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That was fun! Thanks! As Sean points out, some of these choice are arbitrary and SAS-specific. In our doc, we sometimes refer to DATA STEP code vs. Data Step or DATASTEP. So, the pubs team is trying to clean up these inconsistencies. I see our testers are wading through ton of diffs now in accomodating these changes. Maybe a better exercise is to scan the Firebird message file is to see any cases where we spell both ways, and adopt a uniform choice. I looked over the message file, and suggestions are below. http://firebird.cvs.sourceforge.net/firebird/firebird2/src/msgs/messages2.sql?view=markup&sortby=date British spellings and Latin abbreviations.... Ok fine. :) For recap, here were my testers preferences ERROR: data base (Misspelled Word - use "database") ERROR: datatype (Misspelled Word - use "data type") Note: Spell as one word only in the context of XML datatypes libraries, following the W3C's convention. ERROR: file name (Non-standard Spelling - use "filename") ERROR: id (Incorrect Capitalization - use "ID") Note: Do not use "id" as a short form of "ID" (meaning "identifiers"). ERROR: username (Incorrect Term - use "user name, User Name") Here are the revised suggestions: "database" with no spaces seems to be most common usage w 426 usages. 1 usage for "data base". Please change to "database". example: 1631 ('gfix_db_name', 'ALICE_gfix', 'alice.c', NULL, 3, 1, NULL, 'data base file name (@1) already given', NULL, NULL); "data type" with space at 39 usages, and "datatype" with no spaces at 21, although "datatype" sometimes used in constant declarations. Suggest "datatype" changed to "data type". "filename" is less common w 8 usages, but "file name" has 15 usages. Suggest "file name" changed to "filename". " ID " 3 occurences, and " id " 5 occurences. Suggest usage of ID. example: 250 ('indexnotdefined', 'set_index', 'exe.c', NULL, 0, 151, NULL, 'there is no index in table @1 with id @2', NULL, NULL); "user name" 15 occurences and "username" 6 occurences. Please change "username" to "user name". -bill |
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From: Alex P. <pes...@ma...> - 2007-07-26 06:29:04
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On Wednesday 25 July 2007 18:42, Bill Oliver wrote: > "user name" 15 occurences and "username" 6 occurences. Please change > "username" to "user name". Bill, one small problem here - sometimes it's used as switch, and I do not like spaces in switches. And shells command line parser too :) |
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From: Bill O. <bil...@sa...> - 2007-07-26 13:57:43
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> Bill, one small problem here - sometimes it's used as switch, and I do not > like spaces in switches. And shells command line parser too :) That's true, and a good point. I told our tester that I would make a best-effort to clean up the file (locally). When I'm done, I'll enter a tracker with my SQL script. At that time, I give Dmitry full rights to schedule the work or toss it in the trash. :) Hopefully this will be helpful. I know it is a small thing, but often little details lead to a overall perception of quality. -bill |
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