doug@nixtdc.uucp (Doug Moen) (01/12/91)
In article <14834@goofy.megatest.UUCP> djones@megatest.UUCP (Dave Jones) writes: >Many of the names listed should be all caps, because the are >acronyms. For example, "BASIC" stands for "Beginner's Algorithmic ..." >something-or-another, can't remember. I think I recall that >"FORTRAN" stands for "FORmula TRANslator". ... If you look at common English usage, you'll find that acronyms are *not* always written in all caps. Consider "laser", "radar", and "scuba", for instance. The names of languages (eg, English, Fortran, Basic) are proper names, and thus should be given an initial capital. If the name is an acronym that is pronounced by sounding out each letter, then you should use all caps (eg, IBM, APL, JCL). There is no good reason for spelling acronyms like Basic or laser with all caps; furthermore, it is ugly and hard to read. -- Doug Moen {mnetor,alias,geac,torsqnt,lsuc}!nixtdc!doug 77 Carlton #1504, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 2J7
kinnersley@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Bill Kinnersley) (01/12/91)
In article <1991Jan11.203246.12599@nixtdc.uucp>, doug@nixtdc.uucp (Doug Moen) writes:
:
: The names of languages (eg, English, Fortran, Basic) are proper names,
: and thus should be given an initial capital.
:
BASIC is an acronym, FORTRAN ("FORmula TRANslator") is an abbreviation,
FORTH is a pun, but they're all capitalized. The rule if there is one
is that the guys who invent the name also invent the spelling.
For example Inmos (oops I mean INMOS) insists that its language occam
should be written *all* lower case.
:
: If the name is an acronym that is pronounced by sounding out each letter,
: then you should use all caps
:
The spelling shouldn't change just because somebody comes up with a
pronunciation. Do you write Ascii and Scsi?
What drives me crazy is the librarian who not only insists on calling it
PASCAL, but even files it in the catalog as if it were an acronym, ahead
of all the other "pa" entries!
--
--Bill Kinnersleyken@csis.dit.csiro.au (Ken Yap) (01/14/91)
>If you look at common English usage, you'll find that >acronyms are *not* always written in all caps. >Consider "laser", "radar", and "scuba", for instance. > >The names of languages (eg, English, Fortran, Basic) are proper names, >and thus should be given an initial capital. If the name is an acronym >that is pronounced by sounding out each letter, then you should use all caps >(eg, IBM, APL, JCL). There is no good reason for spelling acronyms >like Basic or laser with all caps; furthermore, it is ugly and hard to read. A dissenting point of view is that you should spell computer language names just as the defining documents specified them. Thus FORTRAN, BASIC, but Pascal and TeX.
jbc@hpcllmv.HP.COM (Jeff Caldwell) (01/17/91)
>I am not very keen on versions of other languages eg. xxx-Lisp, C++ >if there alternatives. C++ is really more than just another version of C. There is an effort by ANSI to standardize it (X3J16). With the formalization of the standard, it will be as much a unique language as Fortran or Pascal which is much more than can be said about many of the other "languages" that are listed. I'm sure there are currently far more lines of code in the world written in C++ than in WSL. -Jeff Caldwell
dhesi%cirrusl@oliveb.ATC.olivetti.com (Rahul Dhesi) (01/19/91)
In <1991Jan11.203246.12599@nixtdc.uucp> doug@nixtdc.uucp (Doug Moen) writes: >The names of languages (eg, English, Fortran, Basic) are proper names, >and thus should be given an initial capital. If the name is an acronym >that is pronounced by sounding out each letter, then you should use all caps >(eg, IBM, APL, JCL). This is an excellent rule-of-thumb that I usually use. If it's treated as a word and somewhat phonetically pronounced, then capitalize only the first letter at most. If individual letters are pronounced separately (i.e., the pronounciation unit is a letter and not a word), capitalize all letters. The only exception is DEC, which is better pronounced as "deck" but not better written as "Dec" which looks too much like an abbreviation for December. -- Rahul Dhesi <dhesi%cirrusl@oliveb.ATC.olivetti.com> UUCP: oliveb!cirrusl!dhesi
karam@sce.carleton.ca (Gerald Karam) (01/23/91)
In article <2904@cirrusl.UUCP> dhesi%cirrusl@oliveb.ATC.olivetti.com (Rahul Dhesi) writes: >In <1991Jan11.203246.12599@nixtdc.uucp> doug@nixtdc.uucp (Doug Moen) writes: > >>The names of languages (eg, English, Fortran, Basic) are proper names, >>and thus should be given an initial capital. If the name is an acronym >>that is pronounced by sounding out each letter, then you should use all caps >>(eg, IBM, APL, JCL). > >This is an excellent rule-of-thumb that I usually use. If it's treated >as a word and somewhat phonetically pronounced, then capitalize only >the first letter at most. If individual letters are pronounced >separately (i.e., the pronounciation unit is a letter and not a word), >capitalize all letters. if you follow publishing convention, then acronyms (IBM, DEC) are fully capitalized, otherwise, only capitalize the first later - it really has nothing to do with how it is pronounced. - gerald -- Gerald Karam |"Don't have a cow, man!" - Bart Simpson karam@sce.carleton.ca |"Be cool, dude" - Bart Simpson (Bartman) karam@sce.uucp |"Underachiever, and proud of it, man!" - Bart Simpson Ph: +1 613 788 5749 |"Don't call me dude!" - anonymous