From owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Nov 18 10:55:57 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: cvs-all@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4541516A46B; Sun, 18 Nov 2007 10:55:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@FreeBSD.org) Received: from out1.smtp.messagingengine.com (out1.smtp.messagingengine.com [66.111.4.25]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0D7E513C44B; Sun, 18 Nov 2007 10:55:56 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@FreeBSD.org) Received: from compute1.internal (compute1.internal [10.202.2.41]) by out1.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 308A7474CD; Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:55:47 -0500 (EST) Received: from heartbeat1.messagingengine.com ([10.202.2.160]) by compute1.internal (MEProxy); Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:55:47 -0500 X-Sasl-enc: K+Uer1/cHGGW5AaRvD4YbMgkSqkiY8/IEfq+HRE21QtO 1195383346 Received: from empiric.lon.incunabulum.net (82-35-112-254.cable.ubr07.dals.blueyonder.co.uk [82.35.112.254]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2BD823156; Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:55:46 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <47401A31.3050003@FreeBSD.org> Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 10:55:45 +0000 From: "Bruce M. Simpson" User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.6 (X11/20070928) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Robert Watson References: <200711180921.lAI9LVfQ009903@repoman.freebsd.org> <20071118100058.GD83818@server.vk2pj.dyndns.org> <20071118102740.E73806@fledge.watson.org> In-Reply-To: <20071118102740.E73806@fledge.watson.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Maxim Konovalov , src-committers@freebsd.org, cvs-all@freebsd.org, cvs-src@freebsd.org Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/fs/msdosfs msdosfs_vfsops.c X-BeenThere: cvs-all@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: CVS commit messages for the entire tree List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 10:55:57 -0000 Robert Watson wrote: > > 'iff' was definitely part of my formal education in three fields > during my undergraduate career in the US -- mathematics, computer > science, philosophy, and logic. It's used as an abbreviation for a > longer term which addresses an ambiguity in English, hence its > popularity with the above classes of scientists and engineers. I've > seen it used fairly extensively in computer science training here in > the UK as well. I agree with Robert on this one -- and have also been picked up for introducing 'iff' to code comments by non-native English speakers who were confused by it. To avoid confusion, we should probably add a note to style(9) about this, it is a useful idiom in technical language, and has a specific meaning in logic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_and_only_if I recommend we "i.f.f." ie deliberately periodize its use outside of mathematics and logic; this is a common use; if the strict use is needed, use '<=>' in comments. There's no 7-bit ASCII glyph for iff which is another problem. regards BMS