YYAT (Yet Another Acronym Thread)

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

Dear c.l.c regulars,

Here is a Dan Pop approved list of comp.lang.c Frequently
Used Acronyms:

AFAICT As Far As I Can Tell
AFAIK As Far As I Know
AFAIR As Far As I Recall
AIUI As I Understand It
ANSI American National Standards Institute
BTW By The Way
C&V (abbreviation for Chapter and Verse)
C89 (abbreviation for ANSI X3.159-1989)
C90 (abbreviation for ISO/IEC 9899:1990)
C99 (abbreviation for ISO/IEC 9899:1999)
c.l.c (abbreviation for comp.lang.c)
DR Defect Report
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions
IANAL I Am Not A Lawyer
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission
IIRC If I Recall Correctly
IMHO In My Humble Opinion
IMNSHO In My Not So Humble Opinion
IMO In My Opinion
IOW In Other Words
ISO (abbreviation for International Organization for
Standardization)
ISP Internet Service Provider
N869 (abbreviation for ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG14/N869
Committee Draft - January 18, 1999)
NA Normative Addendum (for ISO/IEC 9899:xxxx, e.g.
ISO 9899:1990 + TC1 + NA1 denotes a version of
Standard C that is in common use today)
OP Original Poster
OT Off Topic
OTOH On The Other Hand
PITA Pain In The A**
POV Point Of View
RFC Request For Comments
RT(F)FAQ Read The (F******) Frequently Asked Questions
RTFM Read The F****** Manual
TC Technical Corrigendum (for ISO/IEC 9899:xxxx,
e.g. ISO 9899:1990 + TC1 + NA1 denotes a version
of Standard C that is in common use today)
WRT With Respect To
WTF What The F***
WTH What The Hell
WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get
YMMV Your Mileage May Vary

Though someone has already pointed out that the list lacks K&R and
K&R2, I still want to insist the inclusion of them if it going to be
the official reference. Also, I would like to suggest the inclusion of
DMR.

Also, the list has censored the strong words (like F***). But, if
it's really the reference, it should *not* censor the words 'coz it
__may__ again be obscure to non-native speakers.

 

[Richard Heathfield]

Though someone has already pointed out that the list lacks K&R and
K&R2, I still want to insist the inclusion of them if it going to be
the official reference.

It will never be that. It may, however, become the /unofficial/ official
reference (or, of course, it may not).

Also, I would like to suggest the inclusion of
DMR.

Traditionally spelt dmr (and it is probably worth adding bwk and kt/ken to
the list).

Also, the list has censored the strong words (like F***). But, if
it's really the reference, it should *not* censor the words 'coz it
__may__ again be obscure to non-native speakers.

I have always maintained that it is far easier, politer, and funnier to omit
the expansion of F altogether, as in: RTFM = "Read The Manual".

 

[Nils Petter Vaskinn]

Dear c.l.c regulars,

Here is a Dan Pop approved list of comp.lang.c Frequently
Used Acronyms:

Drop those common all over usenet, that way we have a list of the CLC
specific ones, instead include a reference to some general usenet acronym
list for the non-clc specific ones. That makes it easier for those already
familiar with usenet (most?) to find what's new.

Alternatively separate into CLC and others.

Like this perhaps:


Frequently used acronyms specific to comp.lang.c :

ANSI American National Standards Institute
C&V Chapter and Verse, in reference to the standard
C89 ANSI X3.159-1989 (a C standard)
C90 ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (a C standard)
C99 ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (a C standard)
c.l.c comp.lang.c
DR Defect Report
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission
ISO International Organization for Standardization
K&R The C programming language by Kernighan & Ritchie
K&R2 K&R second edition
N869 ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG14/N869 Committee Draft - January 18, 1999
NA Normative Addendum (to a standard)
RFC Request For Comments (standard)
TC Technical Corrigendum (to a standard)

Go to http://some.where.com/acronyms.html for explanations for other
acronyms frequently used all over usenet.

 

[Dan Pop]

Drop those common all over usenet, that way we have a list of the CLC
specific ones, instead include a reference to some general usenet acronym
list for the non-clc specific ones. That makes it easier for those already
familiar with usenet (most?) to find what's new.

Alternatively separate into CLC and others.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is the right approach. You still want to keep both categories inside
the same document, for the sake of c.l.c newbies that are also Usenet
newbies. Most general Usenet abbreviations lists are too large to be of
much use to the newbie.

Dan

 

[Dan Pop]

Though someone has already pointed out that the list lacks K&R and
K&R2, I still want to insist the inclusion of them if it going to be
the official reference.

No point in duplicating the FAQ, which explains these abbreviations.

Also, I would like to suggest the inclusion of DMR.

I would like to suggest that writing the person's name is the right
thing and that the usage of user ids instead is inappropriate. I have a
feeling you wouldn't be particularly pleased if people referred to you as
ng4rrjanbiah.

Also, the list has censored the strong words (like F***). But, if
it's really the reference, it should *not* censor the words 'coz it
__may__ again be obscure to non-native speakers.

If the non-native speaker has a functioning brain, he can easily figure
out the meaning. Explicit obscenity is going to offend some other people,
so the F*** is probably the best compromise.

Dan

 

[Dan Pop]

It's open to debate whether this is an abbreviation at all:

What ISO's name means

Because "International Organization for Standardization" would have
different abbreviations in different languages ("IOS" in English,
"OIN" in French for Organisation internationale de normalisation),
it was decided at the outset to use a word derived from the Greek
isos, meaning "equal". Therefore, whatever the country, whatever the
language, the short form of the organization's name is always ISO.

That's not uncommon where international organisations are concerned.
There is no connection between CERN and the organisation's long name
and there hasn't been one for quite a while. At the origin, it was the
acronym of the European scientific body that decided the laboratory's
creation (Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire). The current
name is "European Organisation for Nuclear Research" and the previous
name was "European Laboratory for Particle Physics". The only thing
they have in common with CERN is the length of a proper abbreviation:
EONR and, respectively, ELPP ;-)

Dan

 

[Keith Thompson]

In <[email protected]>


No point in duplicating the FAQ, which explains these abbreviations.

No point in leaving out common abbreviations that are also in the FAQ.
(BTW, make sure the title uses the word "abbreviations", not
"acronyms".)

I would like to suggest that writing the person's name is the right
thing and that the usage of user ids instead is inappropriate. I have a
feeling you wouldn't be particularly pleased if people referred to you as
ng4rrjanbiah.

I see your point, but It depends on the person. Some people actually
prefer to be referred to by their user ids or initials (RMS, for
example, I think), and I have no problem being referred to as "kst".
(You probably use "Dan.Pop" just to confuse the issue. })

I don't know how Dennis Ritchie feels about it; if he prefers his full
name, then of course we should respect that.

 

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

No point in duplicating the FAQ, which explains these abbreviations.

You already made that point somewhere in the thread. My point was:
What if the FAQ says about K&R but the "abbreviations/acronym list"
doesn't have any note of it... I'd thought it would be so weird.

Just quickly searched the FAQ and found that FAQ uses K&R, but it
doesn't explain what is K&R (may be I'm blind to find that). But,
fortunately other online dictionaries like Jargon file and Wiki
explain about K&R and "White book"

I would like to suggest that writing the person's name is the right
thing and that the usage of user ids instead is inappropriate. I have a
feeling you wouldn't be particularly pleased if people referred to you as
ng4rrjanbiah.

I think, you misunderstood me here. In comp.lang.c, I've seen DMR
and dmr to refer Dennis M. Ritchie, and also seen RJH and RH to refer
Richard Heathfield...and DP to refer Dan Pop. That's why I mentioned.
I didn't aware that they're their user ids or offending/inappropriate
form to represent those people.

If the non-native speaker has a functioning brain, he can easily figure
out the meaning. Explicit obscenity is going to offend some other people,
so the F*** is probably the best compromise.

If the non-native speaker has a "functioning brain", he won't even
look at the abbreviations list. X comes to refer what is RTFM; but the
abbreviations reference reads "Read The F****** Manual". I don't
think, he can find any other reference that says F****** is
f-u-c-k-i-n-g. Also, I don't find any reason to hide the "truth" in
"books" or online reference. (Just my thoughts, obviously your mileage
may vary)

 

[=?iso-8859-1?Q?Jos=E9_Mar=EDa?= Mateos]

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If the non-native speaker has a "functioning brain", he won't even
look at the abbreviations list. X comes to refer what is RTFM; but the
abbreviations reference reads "Read The F****** Manual". I don't
think, he can find any other reference that says F****** is
f-u-c-k-i-n-g. Also, I don't find any reason to hide the "truth" in
"books" or online reference. (Just my thoughts, obviously your mileage
may vary)

Just add:

F***: ****
F******: Fucking

To the acronyn list, and that's solved.

I don't see the reason to censor anyword, though.

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My real e-mail address: chema (AT) chema.homelinux.org
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[Programmer Dude]

I have always maintained that it is far easier, politer, and
funnier to omit the expansion of F altogether, as in: RTFM =
"Read The Manual".

I always got a kick out of the Military version:

Read the Manual, Sir!