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General => General Programming => Topic started by: jjones on July 02, 2008, 01:39:12 PM

Title: New Blog Post: The Disappointing Lack of Similarity Between Opposites
Post by: jjones on July 02, 2008, 01:39:12 PM

The Disappointing Lack of Similarity Between Opposites, or The Ballad of Next and Prev
http://blog.slickedit.com/2008/07/the-disappointing-lack-of-similarity-between-opposites-or-the-ballad-of-next-and-prev/

In writing software, there are a few words you see in your symbol names more than any others:

• First, Last
• Next, Previous
• Begin, End
• Push, Pop
• Draw, Erase
• Add, Remove
• High, Low
• Yes, No
• Stop, Go
• OK, Cancel
• And, Or
• Up, Down
• Left, Right
• True, False
• In, Out
• Plus, Minus
• Fixed, Floating
• Open, Close

Each pair is opposite in meaning and different in length. When I study these pairs of words, I can’t help but be absolutely convinced that the inventors of the English language gave absolutely no consideration to the fact that (thousands of years later) there will be millions of programmers writing code in mono-spaced fonts and really, really wanting it to line up nicely, but thwarted by this lack of similarity in length.

Continue reading The Disappointing Lack of Similarity Between Opposites, or The Ballad of Next and Prev here: http://blog.slickedit.com/2008/07/the-disappointing-lack-of-similarity-between-opposites-or-the-ballad-of-next-and-prev/