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[Python-ideas] Make Difflib example callable as module __main__

Mark Lawrence breamoreboy at yahoo.co.uk
Thu Feb 23 14:36:29 CET 2012 
On 23/02/2012 12:42, Rob Cliffe wrote:
> I am a programmer, of some 30-odd years full-time.
> But that doesn't mean I understand every acronym of every specialised
> field under the sun.
> "Version Control System" instead of "VCS" is perfectly comprehensible
> and only takes a little longer to type. "VCS" meant nothing to me.
> I follow the postings on python-dev and python-ideas with keen interest.
>
> On 23/02/2012 12:31, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>> Rob Cliffe wrote:
>>> Can I put in a plea that postings to this list try to minimise the
>>> use of acronyms and jargon that may not be universally intelligible?
>>
>> "Universally intelligible" is an awfully big request. There are
>> English speakers who don't know what you mean by either "postings" or
>> "list", since both of those are themselves jargon. (My parents, for
>> two.) To say nothing of children or non-English speakers who may not
>> know what "acronym" means.
>>
>>
>>> This list is often read with interest by non-specialists such as myself.
>>> I have no idea for example what "VCS" means.
>>
>> While I sympathise, this is a list aimed at programmers, and while
>> non-specialists are welcome, they are not the primary audience.
>>
>> I think you will be better off trying to learn programmer's jargon
>> than asking programmers not to use common, if specialised, words in
>> their technical conversations. You wouldn't expect (say) car
>> enthusiasts to stop using the word "torque", or doctors not to use
>> "dialysis", just because a non-specialist might wander by and be
>> listening in.
>>
>>

Including the postings that repeatedly ask people not to top post?

-- 
Cheers.

Mark Lawrence.
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