who decides the size of a data type?

[Richard Heathfield]

CBFalconer said:

The phrases "I have a doubt" and "my doubt" are quite
ordinary English usage.

You might want to tell the dictionary people, then. Your expertise in
English usage clearly exceeds theirs, and the usage you mention has
completely passed them by.

 

[Keith Thompson]

rao wrote: [...]
) My doubt is who decides the size of the integer?

In India, do 'doubt' and 'question' translate to the same word ?
In any case, the right word to use in English is 'question'.

[...]

In Indian English, "doubt" is often used as a synonym for "question".
In dialects of English outside India, "doubt" has a connotation of
disbelief.

Non-Indian readers need to understand this. Indian posters should, I
suggest, try to use the word "question" rather than "doubt" when
posting in international forums like this one to avoid confusion.

 

[Richard Heathfield]

Keith Thompson said:

In Indian English, "doubt" is often used as a synonym for "question".
In dialects of English outside India, "doubt" has a connotation of
disbelief.

Non-Indian readers need to understand this.

No. If non-Indian readers /do/ understand, it's a bonus, but it is *not* a
requirement. A seeker after (effective) help cannot get that help if he or
she does not make himself or herself understood. Thus, it is in the
seeker's interest to use English in the canonical way.

<snip>

 

[William Ahern]

Keith Thompson said:

No. If non-Indian readers /do/ understand, it's a bonus, but it is *not* a
requirement. A seeker after (effective) help cannot get that help if he or
she does not make himself or herself understood. Thus, it is in the
seeker's interest to use English in the canonical way.

So, before a poster can seek help in mastering the C language, they should
first master Oxford English?

The OP's intended meaning was clear from the context, if not from a
reasonable interpretation of the word itself. This case is entirely
different from someone using l33t speak, which is intended to _exclude_
readers, and where it might be reasonable to take offence at the person's
presumed motivation or impoliteness.

 

[Richard Heathfield]

William Ahern said:

So, before a poster can seek help in mastering the C language, they
should first master Oxford English?

That isn't what I said. What I said was that someone who seeks help can
maximise their chances of getting help by using the language of the helper
in the most effective way they can achieve. In this specific case, the
barrier raised by the acanonical use of "doubt" was a very low one, easily
scaled - but nobody is *obliged* to jump over hurdles in order to answer a
question, so it's in the questioner's interest to present as few hurdles
as possible. That's a far cry from insisting on an OP's mastery of Oxford
English.

The OP's intended meaning was clear from the context, if not from a
reasonable interpretation of the word itself. This case is entirely
different from someone using l33t speak, which is intended to _exclude_
readers, and where it might be reasonable to take offence at the person's
presumed motivation or impoliteness.

I agree. Nevertheless, it's still a good idea for OPs to minimise the risk
of putting people off from answering the question, by maximising their
knowledge of English. Note that "good idea" != "rule".

 

[jacob navia]

rao wrote: [...]
) My doubt is who decides the size of the integer?

In India, do 'doubt' and 'question' translate to the same word ?
In any case, the right word to use in English is 'question'.

[...]

In Indian English, "doubt" is often used as a synonym for "question".
In dialects of English outside India, "doubt" has a connotation of
disbelief.

Non-Indian readers need to understand this. Indian posters should, I
suggest, try to use the word "question" rather than "doubt" when
posting in international forums like this one to avoid confusion.

Who cares about oxford english?

This is an international forum. It is enough that we have to use
english instead of a commonly recognized international language
like latin, french or esperanto

 

[Ian Collins]

rao wrote: [...]
) My doubt is who decides the size of the integer?

In India, do 'doubt' and 'question' translate to the same word ?
In any case, the right word to use in English is 'question'.

[...]

In Indian English, "doubt" is often used as a synonym for "question".
In dialects of English outside India, "doubt" has a connotation of
disbelief.

Non-Indian readers need to understand this. Indian posters should, I
suggest, try to use the word "question" rather than "doubt" when
posting in international forums like this one to avoid confusion.

Who cares about oxford english?

The English inhabitants of Oxford?

 

[Richard Heathfield]

jacob navia said:

This is an international forum. It is enough that we have to use
english instead of a commonly recognized international language
like latin, french or esperanto

fr.comp.lang.c exists.

 

[jacob navia]

The English inhabitants of Oxford?

They do not read comp.lang.c anyway.

 

[Chris Dollin]

They do not read comp.lang.c anyway.

Why would my moving (back) to Oxford cause me to abandon this newsgroup?

 

[christian.bau]

No, Willem.  The phrases "I have a doubt" and "my doubt" are quite
ordinary English usage.  They are more popular in India than in
most other English speaking areas.  I concede that many native
English speakers don't recognize that, but their ignorance is of no
concern.  

You are contradicting yourself here. If many native English speakers
don't recognise a phrase, then it is by definition not ordinary
English usage.

("I have a doubt" is of course an ordinary English sentence, but it
means something completely different from "I have a question").

But no matter what, if anyone has a question then they should write "I
have a question" and chances are much better that they will get an
answer instead of a lengthy thread about proper use of the English
language.

 

[CBFalconer]

You are contradicting yourself here. If many native English
speakers don't recognise a phrase, then it is by definition not
ordinary English usage.

("I have a doubt" is of course an ordinary English sentence,
but it means something completely different from "I have a
question").

True. It means the originator 'has a doubt' about something or
other. It may be clearable by asking a question, deepening an
explanation, etc. It doesn't mean "I have a question". It does
express a lack of understanding. These are just simple English
words, placed in sequence, to express something. Not even
idiomatic.

 

[jacob navia]

You are contradicting yourself here. If many native English speakers
don't recognise a phrase, then it is by definition not ordinary
English usage.

[snip english grammar discussion]

So, speaking about debuggers and what happens when a program
crash is off topic for mr Bau. Obviously, discussing
english grammar is not.

This is an example of the double standards that the regulars
use:

If I discuss english grammar is ON TOPIC in c.l.c

If Jacob discusses debuggers and debugging that is OFF TOPIC

 

[Richard]

You are contradicting yourself here. If many native English speakers
don't recognise a phrase, then it is by definition not ordinary
English usage.

[snip english grammar discussion]

So, speaking about debuggers and what happens when a program
crash is off topic for mr Bau. Obviously, discussing
english grammar is not.

This is an example of the double standards that the regulars
use:

If I discuss english grammar is ON TOPIC in c.l.c

If Jacob discusses debuggers and debugging that is OFF TOPIC

Mr Bau has clearly demonstrated which side of common sense he is on.

 

[CBFalconer]

You are contradicting yourself here. If many native English
speakers don't recognise a phrase, then it is by definition not
ordinary English usage.

[snip english grammar discussion]

So, speaking about debuggers and what happens when a program crash
is off topic for mr Bau. Obviously, discussing english grammar is
not. This is an example of the double standards that the regulars
use: If I discuss english grammar is ON TOPIC in c.l.c. If Jacob
discusses debuggers and debugging that is OFF TOPIC

Well, I let this sit for almost 24 hours before replying. This is
another horrible example of Navias irritation tactics. It would be
quite sufficient to post a short reply saying something like "I
consider this off-topic", and see what response is generated.
Instead he immediately draws back a fist and smashes all nearby in
the nose(s). Note the generic use of 'regulars' to denote any user
that ever expressed disagreement with Navia.

 

[Keith Thompson]

True. It means the originator 'has a doubt' about something or
other. It may be clearable by asking a question, deepening an
explanation, etc. It doesn't mean "I have a question". It does
express a lack of understanding. These are just simple English
words, placed in sequence, to express something. Not even
idiomatic.

The point I think you're missing is that in the Indian dialect of
English, the word "doubt" apparently *is* commonly used to mean
"question".

I won't debate whether this usage is correct, but it wouldn't hurt for
readers of this newsgroup to be aware that it exists. (It's hard to
see how a regular reader could avoid being aware of it, since it's
been discussed here numerous times.)

 

[Richard Heathfield]

Keith Thompson said:

The point I think you're missing is that in the Indian dialect of
English, the word "doubt" apparently *is* commonly used to mean
"question".

The point I think /you're/ missing is that we are constantly enjoined to be
generous in what we accept, but strict in what we produce. And we try to
be. But it would sure be good if some *other people* tried doing the same
thing.

Programmers are supposed to be amongst the brightest people on the planet.
They should be able to *learn*. When people show an inability or
unwillingness to learn, that doesn't bode well for their future career as
a programmer.

I won't debate whether this usage is correct, but it wouldn't hurt for
readers of this newsgroup to be aware that it exists.

Agreed, but it also wouldn't hurt for writers to this newsgroup to read the
group for a while before posting, and learn how to use the word
'question'.

 

[Richard Bos]

The point I think you're missing is that in the Indian dialect of
English, the word "doubt" apparently *is* commonly used to mean
"question".

Whereas I'm (un?)reliably informed that in the London dialect, "bare" is
used to mean "very", and "cheers" means "thank you". Shall we adopt
those, as well, on this barely legible newsgroup?

Richard

 

[Joe Wright]

Keith Thompson said:



The point I think /you're/ missing is that we are constantly enjoined to be
generous in what we accept, but strict in what we produce. And we try to
be. But it would sure be good if some *other people* tried doing the same
thing.

Programmers are supposed to be amongst the brightest people on the planet.
They should be able to *learn*. When people show an inability or
unwillingness to learn, that doesn't bode well for their future career as
a programmer.


Agreed, but it also wouldn't hurt for writers to this newsgroup to read the
group for a while before posting, and learn how to use the word
'question'.

I believe you're much too strict. 'Correct' English is determined by
usage. Americans and Australians can use English somewhat differently
than Britains but just as correctly. So Indians.

 

[CBFalconer]

Whereas I'm (un?)reliably informed that in the London dialect,
"bare" is used to mean "very", and "cheers" means "thank you".
Shall we adopt those, as well, on this barely legible newsgroup?

Ah, at last, a sane proposal. This might well settle the whole
nasty problem. Much better than simply accepting the slightly
offbeat Indian phraseology.