On Tue, 13 May 2008 15:00:24 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Here's something I want to know...
>     What's a rhetorical question?

Assuming you're not asking rhetorically, it's one that's eloquent or with 
intent to pursuade.  Also a question phrased as "a literary exercise".  
"Of, belonging to, concerned with, or comprised in the art of rhetoric." 
or "Of persons: Given to the use of rhetoric.". :-)

Zaphod (Head 1):  "Why are my heads asking each other rhetorical 
questions?"

Zaphod (Head 2):  "Oh, were they rhetorical?"

Jim

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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> How do you pronounce "cout << 5" in english?

  You don't.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Darren New wrote:
> How do you pronounce "cout << 5" in english? If you were to read that 
> statement over the phone to someone, what would you say? Obviously not 
> "cout logical-shift-left 5".  Would you really say "count 
> operator-less-than-less-than five"?

If the person at the other end of the phone is a C++ guru, you could 
probably say "c out five", and they would understand that the streaming 
operator belongs there.

Regards,
JOhn

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On Wed, 14 May 2008 12:44:39 +0200, Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
>> How do you pronounce "cout << 5" in english?
>
>   You don't.

While I personally try to avoid absolutes, I do agree with Warp here. What  
is this obsession some people have with speaking code out loud? If the  
other person is too far away for direct communication, send the code in an  
e-mail or IM. If he is close enough for face-to-face conversation, show  
him whatever device you yourself are reading the code from.


-- 
FE

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Fredrik Eriksson wrote:
> What is this obsession some people have with speaking code out loud? 

I don't know it was an obsession. I was thinking more of (say) an 
over-the-phone job interview kind of question.  Certainly if your 
language is so full of baroque character combinations that nobody even 
agrees how to read it out loud, there's something wrong. Especially 
given that even APL isn't that bad, and APL doesn't even use ASCII. :-)

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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>> I have a better question:
>>
>> How do you pronounce "fib = 1 : 1 : zipWith (*) fib (tail fib)" in 
>> such a way that
>>
>> 1. the person hearing you will know exactly which expression you're 
>> describing, and
> 
> I'd say
> fib equals one colon one colon zipwith operator star fib paren tail fib 
> end paren.

I tend to just use "open" and "close". (Especially for Haskell - surely 
only Lisp itself has more brackets!)

PS. I can't believe Warp hasn't pointed out the obvious error yet...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On Wed, 14 May 2008 19:54:31 +0200, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> Fredrik Eriksson wrote:
>> What is this obsession some people have with speaking code out loud?
>
> I don't know it was an obsession. I was thinking more of (say) an  
> over-the-phone job interview kind of question.

Even worse. I would question the competence of an interviewer asking me to  
"speak source" to him over the phone. Verbal communication is a really  
poor medium for accurately conveying such things. Programming languages  
are (COBOL aside) designed to be read/written, not spoken.


> Certainly if your language is so full of baroque character combinations  
> that nobody even agrees how to read it out loud, there's something  
> wrong. Especially given that even APL isn't that bad, and APL doesn't  
> even use ASCII. :-)

APL uses only one-character operators. You could recite C++ source one  
character at a time too.



This is something of a pet peeve of mine, gained after hearing far too  
many people trying (and failing miserably) to communicate source code  
verbally.


-- 
FE

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> PS. I can't believe Warp hasn't pointed out the obvious error yet...

There are multiple meanings for the word "fib" in English. ;-)

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Fredrik Eriksson wrote:
> APL uses only one-character operators.

Not true. quote-quad and jot-dot both spring to mind.

> You could recite C++ source one 
> character at a time too.

Sure, but it would be tedious. At least APL is short. ;)

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> I was thinking more of (say) an 
> over-the-phone job interview kind of question.

  Then I would say "I print 5 to the standard output".

  It doesn't make sense to ask character-by-character syntax in a phone
interview.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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