Questions tagged [programming]
Questions about English used for talking about programming, but not about programming languages themselves.
319
questions
1
vote
1answer
43 views
Using the plural form of proprietary for software
I came across this sentence in an article.
There is a balance of proprietary and open sources in the market.
Should it be either of the following instead?
There is a balance of ...
0
votes
1answer
30 views
Finding a better name for “context” or “variant” for describing a software object concept
Problem:
In a software product, there is the possibility to define sets of parameters
(key, value pairs). The functionality is encapsulated in an object in the
code, to be reused by programmers ...
-4
votes
2answers
58 views
What does the word instruction mean in programming?
A computer program is a set of instructions that tells the computer what to do.
I have checked on the English dictionary the meaning of instruction in programming but I think it is wrong.
Here is ...
0
votes
2answers
46 views
What is the word for assigning or passing into a function in programming? [closed]
I have two cases that I'd like to cover. For example you can either assign to a variable:
var x = 3;
Or you can indirectly assign to a variable with a function (passing function arguments):
my_func(...
0
votes
1answer
24 views
Getting something to work with something else
What is the proper way of conveying that I'm starting the task of getting some component to work or to be compatible with another component?
Having an app that was developed for iPhone to work on ...
2
votes
6answers
113 views
Verb for the inverse of greet
Is there a verb for the inverse of greet, or a synonym verb for greet that has an inverse verb? Everything I can think of is a verb phrase, exclamation, or noun. Salute is the closest I could find, ...
1
vote
0answers
34 views
Etymology of words “throw” and “catch” when talking about “programming exceptions” [duplicate]
I must first apologize if this is the wrong place to ask this. According to the guidelines on cs.stackexchange and stackoverflow, this question was clearly considered "off topic" for both of those ...
1
vote
0answers
58 views
What is a good word or prhase to describe a unit of measure/a unit of physical quantity?
I am looking for a good word or a short phrase to describe a physical quantity.
For example consider these examples:
5.0 m3/h
17 bar
20 gpm (gallons per minute)
3 psi (pounds per square inch)
I am ...
0
votes
1answer
38 views
How to name arrival time, departure time, other timestamps together?
I am a software developer and I have an obsession with clear naming.
In software, I am developing we have a data structure for delivery note with business-specific time fields
(...
0
votes
1answer
36 views
What is the equivalent of append or add to push to front?
I am in a programming context. I am writing a commit message and I am struggling to find a word for the following action: In a list of item, I added some elements in a front of the list. We are used ...
-1
votes
1answer
113 views
“… takes as input …” vs “… takes input as …”
Why did the author place "as" between the verb take and the preposition here?
Give an efficient algorithm that takes as input a desired accuracy ϵ > 0 and returns a simple cycle C for which r(C)≥ r*...
1
vote
1answer
30 views
What to call a library of shared libraries in programming
There are (for example) three dynamic libraries that is files libxx.so, libyy.so, and libzz.so (or .dll files xx.dll, yy.dll, and zz.dll on Windows).
What do you call the collection of all three ...
1
vote
1answer
245 views
What is the antonym of Update? [duplicate]
As a developer, I am writing a commit message to rollback an update. In my message I want to describe what I am doing which is the opposite of an update. I am looking for something like the word ...
1
vote
2answers
41 views
What's a specific word for a programmer who has contextual knowledge of a particular programming language, framework, environment, etc?
This term was used by an old Senior Developer of mine but for the life of me I can't recall it. The context of the conversation was that he wasn't necessarily more skilled than an Intermediate ...
0
votes
1answer
90 views
Meaning of the term “instaciate”/“instatiate” in computer programming
What does this word mean?
instaciate, otherwise instatiate
It's not in any of my dictionaries, but there are a few too many occurrences of this word in programming communities and across the ...
0
votes
3answers
48 views
What is its called when you buy a program, game and you cant use it anymore do to the devs shutting down the servers (an online game in my case)
the only reason it will not work is do to the dev's shutting it down btw I cant get a refund so is what they did illegal do to I paid for something and I cant use it do to it being the dev's fault, ...
1
vote
2answers
45 views
Is there a terminology to describe a user (in computer science) who doesn't need to think to do its job?
To be more specific, an example:
The customer relationship department of a company has 100 people to work on customer requests. This company has a system in which almost everything is automated for ...
0
votes
1answer
30 views
When to use articles before programming terms?
I've found such a paragraph in one of programming tutorials:
Ruby strings are simply sequences of 8-bit bytes and they are objects
of class String. Double-quoted strings allow substitution and
...
0
votes
1answer
33 views
Run “as” normal user vs. Run “with” normal user
On Linux Mint 19, I have a Makefile with a command which should output a sentence:
Target 'distrib' has to be run as normal user!
in case the user has run it as / with the root user.
Since I am ...
0
votes
1answer
41 views
How can I call file not under version control in one word?
In opposite to - versioned - files that are under Source-Code-Version-Control system (i.e. Git/SVN), is there a way to call files that left deliberately out in one word?
Is word "un-versioned" ("non-...
2
votes
1answer
82 views
Is there a word for someone who is your relative but is neither your descendant nor you his?
I'm writing a function in Python that will allow me to list all folders that have a common root folder (common ancestor), but in the process of building up unordered folder pairs for each folder, I am ...
1
vote
3answers
306 views
Term describing the smallest possible unit of data
I want to write something like:
In cases where the smallest unit of data is available (e.g. houses, persons, vehicles), we can use more detailed models.
So I am looking for something describing ...
0
votes
1answer
40 views
Capitalizing lowercase names in technical writing (programming) [duplicate]
In a world of programming, there are number of tools which have purposefully lowercase names: like tmux or sed. When talking about this tools, how does capitalization work?
Do I never capitalize ...
0
votes
1answer
200 views
How to pronounce C++11 in English?
How to pronounce C++11 in English, "c plus plus one one" or "c plus plus eleven"?
Thanks in advance.
2
votes
4answers
181 views
Name for careless quick and dirty style of programming?
How to name a style of programming, which brings the results for given moment, but the code is written quickly, without any readability, considerations, recommended practices, without thinking of ...
0
votes
2answers
47 views
Capitalization of “String”
I am writing a scientific text in the area of computer science. Often, I need to refer to a certain data structure named String which refers to a sequence of characters. In most programming languages, ...
1
vote
2answers
702 views
Pre(-)processing/post(-)processing hyphen presence in research publications written in UK/US English
Which of the following spellings of pre|post(-)processing are the most commonly used in research publications written in UK English and in US English?
pre-processing, post-processing versus ...
0
votes
1answer
38 views
Correct Terminology of Types of Users of a Software Application
Maybe I should ask this in a language forum? I am not in an English country, so maybe that's why I can't know for sure the word I am looking for.
I'm designing a system that will have multiple ...
2
votes
1answer
83 views
Why using “this” in JavaScript is “like pair programming with Abbott and Costello”?
I'm aware that this question requires, in addition to some cultural context about Abbott and Costello, good expertise on quality JavaScript or OO coding. But I'm confident that there are plenty of ...
0
votes
1answer
36 views
Names for matching things [closed]
The context here is programming, so I'm not sure if anyone could understand.
I have a function that takes in two parameters. The first parameter is an enum while the second parameter is a list (of ...
1
vote
2answers
205 views
What is the term for ability of a variable to hold a null value?
In some programming languages, a variable may have a special value 'null' to denote an absence of any object. What term should be used to describe the property of whether or not a given variable can ...
1
vote
1answer
36 views
Minimal, but most important
I'm writing a Priority Queue. The details of it aren't important, but to describe a situation, I need a specific word.
It's possible for an item with the lowest priority to be the most important item ...
1
vote
1answer
2k views
Is “if not already exists” valid English?
In the programming world, I've often seen and used the phrase:
Create new table if not already exists.
Is this valid English wording and/or grammar?
1
vote
2answers
98 views
What is a common word for the jargon term “overload”?
In computer science and programming, one frequently wishes to create a process that takes a certain type of input and spits something (immaterial to this discussion) out. However, in many cases we ...
1
vote
2answers
36 views
Verb to replace “set bounds” [closed]
I'm developing some GUI software and I want to mean that this widget bounds/edges are attached to some boundary structure, something like:
bounds = { .left = 0, .top = 0, .right: 320, .bottom: 240 };
...
2
votes
0answers
52 views
Word or phrase for things that are only noticed when they break? (or are pointed out)
E.g. the engineering that goes into the roads we travel on, the railways we use, the negative space in a painting, or any of the many systems that we depend on.
0
votes
1answer
43 views
Is there an umbrella term for “inflation” and “deflation”? [closed]
I am writing a software module that takes polygons and either inflates them or deflates them based on user input (i.e. if the user supplies 0.5 as input, the polygon is deflated to half of its size, ...
4
votes
3answers
112 views
How to describe this unrecognizable content? [duplicate]
In programming, I got the following content which is unrecognizable in the output.
When communicating with others, how should I describe the issue I encountered in more natural way?
In fact, this ...
5
votes
3answers
553 views
Hypernym for “radio button” and “checkbox”? [closed]
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Since I'm coding a shared css class for radio buttons and checkboxes, I would like to word it with the appropriate hypernym.
Kind regards
0
votes
0answers
35 views
When to use the noun dependents?
While programming, time is often spent to discuss and resolve object dependencies.
When object 'a' is dependent on object 'b' and 'c', it is commonly said object 'a' has dependencies.
Referring to ...
1
vote
3answers
3k views
What is the correct pronunciation of SQLite? [closed]
I seem to be hearing many different vocalizations of the name, and I'm not sure which one is correct. The last thing I want to do is "erroneously" drop the name in a meeting, and someone feel the need ...
-1
votes
2answers
830 views
Is a software loop “breaked” or “broken”?
In software development there are code loop constructions, which you can BREAK.
foreach(i in integers)
...
break
If I break the cycle, it becomes broken or breaked?
Which sentence is correct ...
1
vote
1answer
90 views
What is a word for non alpha numeric characters that are the same when opened and closed?
Edited:
I'm searching for a way to describe this:
When using "quotes", one character is used twice: "
When using (parentheses), two characters are used once: ( )
Is there a word for this property?...
0
votes
2answers
137 views
involves AAA and oftentimes BBB: programmers needed
I came cross these sentences today:
When you write your code, you might end up with a chunk of code that is no longer used but still part of the program. Watch out for cases like these: remember ...
-1
votes
1answer
178 views
Difference between “find by” and “find for” [closed]
In programming exists the so-called repository pattern which is meant to retrieve data from somewhere. It usually has some methods with which it is possible to retrieve that data. These methods are ...
2
votes
4answers
101 views
Looking for an adjective describing an easy programming language style
I am looking for an adjective with regard to computer programming, which says that a program language is not abstract, but very clear and intuitive or even overly "non-computerish".
I saw this word ...
0
votes
1answer
326 views
Plural or single form of word in names of variables, classes [duplicate]
I am wondering which option is more correct when I want to call some class of objects: NotificationService or NotificationsService. Is there difference between them? If so, what is it?
0
votes
1answer
46 views
What is the name for “designated” “oriented” “specialized” in this case?
I'm writing a technical document but couldn't think of a better term than "designated" in this scenario.
I have a module which is general-purpose. I can tune it into a special-purpose one by doing ...
0
votes
2answers
145 views
Neutral word for saying that a task is finished, without denoting success or failure
I'm working on some code where a task has two result states:
- Complete | The task completed successfully
- Failure | The task failed to complete successfully (no further attempts will be made)
The ...
0
votes
1answer
53 views
What is another word for 'pronoun' within this problem domain?
An excerpt from the the song "99 Bottles of Beer" would be the following two verses:
2 bottles of beer on the wall, 2 bottles of beer. Take one down
and pass it around, 1 bottle of beer on the ...
