• Jason Mauss (unregistered)

    And that guy is a "Senior" Windows Developer? At least he didn't just flat out lie to you about what he did, like the people I have to give support to do.

    "No, it's case sensitive...it needs to be in all caps."

    I did put it in all caps.

    "Let me look then."

    ...

    "Yeah, you've got lower case letters there. Capitalize them."

  • winwar (unregistered)

    Someone at my work gets messed up about slash/forward slash and back slash too.

  • Psychotic Rambler (unregistered)

    The 'forward slash vs. backslash' part is almost excusable. The first time.

    I sincerely hope the 'Hooray!' was out loud.

  • Psychotic Rambler (unregistered)

    The 'forward slash vs. backslash' part is almost excusable. The first time.

    I sincerely hope the 'Hooray!' was out loud.

  • Psychrotic Rambler (unregistered)

    Yeah, double-post. Gotta love it.

  • David Cumps (unregistered)

    Call everything a 'slash', the user has to figure out which one it is ;) if it doesn't work, try the other one

  • cablito (unregistered)

    <quote>Call everything a 'slash', the user has to figure out which one it is ;) if it doesn't work, try the other one </quote>

    Users who can´t figure out when to use the right 'slash' should just be shot in public; or have their licenses to operate computers revogued.

  • (unregistered)

    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #efefef">At a company I worked at we had this issue of slashes</FONT>

    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #efefef"></FONT> 

    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #efefef">and began calling the backslash  wack</FONT>

    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #efefef"></FONT> 

    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #efefef">so a server location would be stated as </FONT>

    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #efefef"></FONT> 

    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #efefef">wack wack test zero one wack output</FONT>

    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #efefef">\\test01\output</FONT>

    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #efefef"></FONT> 

  • (unregistered)

    I've found that all to often ther is little difference between "senior" and "noob" ;)

  • (unregistered) in reply to

    I picked up a habit from an old boss of calling backslash "slosh" - so / is slash and \ is slosh.  Makes sense.  I extended it so that underscore is "dosh" - so - is dash and _ is dosh.  Also makes sense.  But why not go further?  ~ is twiddle, so ` is twoddle; ! is bang, so ? is bong (even kind of looks like one...); and so on, ad infinitum.

    And incidentally, quite unrelated to the above: "square bracket" and "angle bracket" take too long to say, so [ and ] are squackets, and < and > (in languages like C++ that use them that way) are ackets.

    But & is always ampersand; read about Intercal to learn why!

  • (cs) in reply to

    :
    And incidentally, quite unrelated to the above: "square bracket" and "angle bracket" take too long to say, so [ and ] are squackets, and < and > (in languages like C++ that use them that way) are ackets.

    Now, listen carefully, I'm onlyu gonna explain this once:

    [ and ] are "Brackets" because the hard angles are represented by the hard K.

    { and } are "Braces" because the soft curves are represented by the soft C & S.

  • (cs) in reply to JamesCurran

    Actually, braces look more like a "Y" and are used to support one's trousers (as an alternative to a belt). Brackets, on the other hand, are generally used to support shelving rather than trousers.

  • (cs) in reply to Stan Rogers
    Stan Rogers:
    Actually, braces look more like a "Y" and are used to support one's trousers (as an alternative to a belt). Brackets, on the other hand, are generally used to support shelving rather than trousers.


    When you say "bracing one's trousers", are you referring to what we call "Suspenders" in america?


  • (cs) in reply to Blue

    P'raps, but most of the English-speaking world uses "suspenders" to refer to what y'all call "garters" -- something to keep one's stockings from becoming embarrassing anklets. (That applies to both the just-below-the-knee dealies men use to keep their socks up and the belt & hook contraption worn by ladies to keep their unmentionables from being mentioned.)

  • (cs) in reply to Stan Rogers
    Stan Rogers:
    P'raps, but most of the English-speaking world uses "suspenders" to refer to what y'all call "garters" -- something to keep one's stockings from becoming embarrassing anklets. (That applies to both the just-below-the-knee dealies men use to keep their socks up and the belt & hook contraption worn by ladies to keep their unmentionables from being mentioned.)


    Most interesting!

    What can I say, we americans like to twist everything just a little bit.  Sometimes it's a real stretch (like the word "Faggot").

    So, the device that you hold your pants up with is called a "Brace", are they referred to as "Braces", or is that just how you were describing what action it performs?

    If so, how do you distinguish between that device and the device one uses to straighten one's teeth?


  • (cs) in reply to Blue

    One holds trousers up with "braces" -- always plural. (Unless one of the buttons/clips has become unfastened, in which case it might be fair to say that the trousers are being held up by a single brace -- but that would definitely be non-standard usage, both of English and of braces.)

    A singular "brace" is (of course) a pair of something (usually, the unfortunate victims of a hunting expedition), as one would expect in a language like English, a device used to turn a bit (as for drilling holes), or a prop of some sort. Othodonture appliances are also "braces" (plural). It may be singular, but I think the device would have to be installed 'pon a single tooth -- and I just don't see how that would work at all. (See "non-standard usage", above.)

  • (cs) in reply to Stan Rogers

    Oh -- in order to distinguish between the braces your grandfather wears and the braces your teenaged daughter wears: one is worn attached to the waistband of a pair of trousers and arranged in a criss-cross fashion over the shoulders, and the other is worn almost completely inside the mouth.

  • (cs) in reply to Stan Rogers

    Quite interesting indeed.  I looked up "suspenders" and "braces" at mirriam-webster (www.m-w.com), which DID mention the "British" version of suspenders and defined it as you had, but did not do the same for "braces" (ie, no "British" definition referring to the American "suspenders"). 

    There are probably many online dictionaries (or at least word lists) that translate between American English and Everyone Else's English, but I tend to stick with authoritative sources and am too lazy to find an authoritative one for this. :)


  • (cs) in reply to Blue

    When in doubt, ask a Canadian. We didn't get mad at the Muvver Country and stop listening to them back in the late eighteenth century, and we watch your television all day every day. Oh -- both of you seem to think there's something wrong with the way we do English, so we probably have it just about right....

  • (cs) in reply to Stan Rogers
    Stan Rogers:
    When in doubt, ask a Canadian. We didn't get mad at the Muvver Country and stop listening to them back in the late eighteenth century, and we watch your television all day every day. Oh -- both of you seem to think there's something wrong with the way we do English, so we probably have it just about right....


    It seems as though English (and its variants) inspire as many WTFs as VB does?

    Sounds like we might need a new forum (other than side-bar) for language-related WTFs...

    (VB Programmers: Just kidding!  You should know me by now.)

  • (unregistered)

    In England we have the Oxford Dictionary - this is where real English is defined.

    I searched braces and here's the resultant page:
    http://www.askoxford.com/results/?view=searchresults&freesearch=braces&branch=&textsearchtype=exact

    notice that suspenders are on the list.

    Jolly good show and all that!

  • (cs) in reply to
    :

    <font style="background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239);">At a company I worked at we had this issue of slashes</font>

     <font style="background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239);">and began calling the backslash  wack</font>

     <font style="background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239);">so a server location would be stated as </font>

     <font style="background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239);">wack wack test zero one wack output</font>

    <font style="background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239);">\\test01\output</font>



    Hrm... I've seen that practive here... maybe here is your there? 

    All too often I see lots and lots of people get confused with their slashes.  I sometime have to end up pointing the key out to them. [:|]
  • (cs)

    I think a much easier term is left-slash/right-slash. As in the left hand side of the keyboard, and the right hand side of the keyboard.

    This came about when trying to teach my father to change a directory in an address bar. His reply to my statement of ''back-slash, Back-slash, BACK-SLASH!!! That one there, THAT ONE!'' was quite simply...

     

    ''Why the F@#! is that one a back-slash and that one isn't!''

     

    Which I thought was a very valid point. Which leads me to this...

    ...Why are they called forward-slash and back-slash???

  • (cs) in reply to CannonFodda

    CannonFodda:
    ...Why are they called forward-slash and back-slash???

    They aren't.

    They're "slash" and "back-slash".

    The slash is used in normal English writing and has been around for hundreds of years.  The backslash was probably invented in the last 50 years, is used only computer geeks, and named because it's the slash backwards.

    On my keyboard, they are both on the right.

  • (cs) in reply to Jason Mauss

    :
    And that guy is a "Senior" Windows Developer? At least he didn't just flat out lie to you about what he did, like the people I have to give support to do.

    "No, it's case sensitive...it needs to be in all caps."

    I did put it in all caps.

    "Let me look then."

    ...

    "Yeah, you've got lower case letters there. Capitalize them."

    Sigh. People who think you can negotiate with or deceive things. The physical universe. Comes from all that religion of course - the idea that if you kiss God's ass hard enough then he will suspend the laws of nature on your behalf.

  • (cs) in reply to CannonFodda
    CannonFodda:

    ...Why are they called forward-slash and back-slash???




    I always figured the "normal" slash was the one used for typing/writing fractions.

    1/2, 3/4, and so on.  This is the only slash we use in standard non-computer-based writing.

    Since / is then the normal slash, \ is naturally the back slash.

    Of course, if you grew up typing rather than writing, it seems a little less obvious.
  • (cs) in reply to cablito
    Anonymous:
    <quote>Call everything a 'slash', the user has to figure out which one it is ;) if it doesn't work, try the other one </quote>

    Users who can´t figure out when to use the right 'slash' should just be shot in public; or have their licenses to operate computers revogued.


    Yup. It's all just slash... H T T P colon slash slash. C colon slash. regsvr32 slash you.

    If a "senior" programmer needs to be told that / is used for switches in dos, then they aren't "senior", and need to be demoted to "script kiddie". And even then, it's a generous demotion... Something more along the lines of "data input drone" is probably better suited for him.
  • John Hensley (unregistered)

    Sorry about the old thread bump but...

    There was an incredibly annoying grad student in the CS department where I did undergrad. Her only response any time a student was having trouble, was to cheerfully screech "THINK ABOUT IT!!" until the student got a clue or got fed up.

    She always referred to / as
    (I swear this is true)
    "forward backslash"

    This is a good example of why I chose to major in EE instead.

  • (cs) in reply to John Hensley
    Anonymous:
    Sorry about the old thread bump but...

    There was an incredibly annoying grad student in the CS department where I did undergrad. Her only response any time a student was having trouble, was to cheerfully screech "THINK ABOUT IT!!" until the student got a clue or got fed up.


    It might have been annoying at the time, but it's the best way to prevent WTFs.
  • John Hensley (unregistered) in reply to Alistair Wall
    Alistair Wall:

    It might have been annoying at the time, but it's the best way to prevent WTFs.

    I tend to think that identifying what the student has overlooked and explaining it works better, and someone who can't do that should be in a teaching role.
  • John Hensley (unregistered) in reply to John Hensley

    shouldn't

  • Simon (unregistered)

    I did something incredibly daft when just starting in support... I needed to unresister about 20 or 30 DLLs (cannot remember why, now, only that it was necessary).

    Not being one to sit through and repeat the command 20 times, I thought I would be clever and do a bulk unregister....

    for %a in (*.dll) do regserv32 /u %a

    (think that is the right syntax)

    Lo and behold, the screen filled up with dialog boxes notifying me that it had unregistered a DLL - lots, and lots, of dialog boxes. I never knew that the unresister DLL was not based on the file in the current directory.

    Fortunatly it was a server that we were umm-ing and ahh-ing over scrapping. I helped them make the choice!

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