mcc

Me: It's confusing to talk about programming sometimes because that "type" is a vocabulary word with special meaning but it's also a general word in English. I know, if I ever need to express a general category of things, I'll use the unambiguous word "kind".

Haskell: *About to play a hilarious prank on me*

May 18, 2025 at 7:44pmTusky
Show threadcrabMay 18, 2025
@mcc thats easy just say category
Show threadNeia masksMay 18, 2025
@mcc let's use "variant" instead

cpp: std::variant says hi
Show threadOliviaMay 18, 2025
@mcc sort? class? group? plenty of unambiguous choices!
Show threadmccMay 18, 2025
@chamlis @neia The only time I am ever glad that Smalltalk/Objective-C failed at market is when I need to use the word "collection" in a sentence
Show threadOliviaMay 18, 2025
@mcc @neia that's fine so long as it's not a `Vec<Garbage>`
Show threadcassieMay 18, 2025
@mcc @chamlis @neia aren’t Java and C# just as excited to call things collections?
Show threadnexMay 18, 2025

@porglezomp @mcc @chamlis ‘Collection’ is a common generic term for pretty much all kinds of container types throughout programming/CS; I guess in Smalltalk/ObjC it's something more specific, or weird?

I tried googling it for a minute, but so far this looks pretty much like what I'd encounter in Python or Kotlin or whatever: https://www.gnu.org/software/smalltalk/manual-base/html_node/Collection.html#Collection

GNU Smalltalk Library Reference: Collection

GNU Smalltalk Library Reference: Collection

Show threadmccMay 18, 2025
@nex @porglezomp @chamlis It's a specific class in the standard library inheritance tree.
Show threadaevaMay 18, 2025
@mcc imo computer scientists are nowhere near willing enough to make up new words
Show threadhalcy​ May 18, 2025
@aeva @mcc do „cepstrum“, „alanysis“, „quefrency“ and „liftering“ count or are these too close
Show threadaevaMay 18, 2025
@halcy @mcc imo the thing that you put in front of or behind a variable declaration to say what it is should be called the "stuffix"
Show threadmargotMay 18, 2025
@aeva @mcc i think this everytime i have to google something and find out all results have been taken over by some startup making a product for an industry i've never heard of
Show threadnone gender with left politicsMay 18, 2025
@aeva @mcc Counterpoint: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stropping_%28syntax%29
Stropping (syntax) - Wikipedia

Show threadaevaMay 18, 2025
@vikxin @mcc stropping is a perfectly cromulent word
Show threadnone gender with left politicsMay 18, 2025
@aeva @mcc when posting this I didn't know if it was a counterpoint that they shouldn't be naming things or a counterpoint that they had indeed made up good words.
Show threadCounting Is HardMay 18, 2025
@vikxin I didn't know this had a name, so I've had to describe the concept every time I've referred to it
Show threadHugo MillsMay 18, 2025
@aeva @mcc It must be the pervasive influence of English. "Nice word you got there. I'm 'avin' that."
Show threadPaul CantrellMay 18, 2025

@aeva @mcc

“Got an Apache port listening on port 80 on my Ethernet port”

Show threadCarl MuckenhouptMay 18, 2025
@aeva @mcc This is possibly the difference between a "computer scientist" and a "programmer". Programmers are all too willing to give every project its own terminology for the same old concepts
Show threadaevaMay 18, 2025
@CarlMuckenhoupt @mcc oooooooo elitism
Show threadCarl MuckenhouptMay 18, 2025
@aeva @mcc FWIW I'm a programmer
Show threadaevaMay 18, 2025
@CarlMuckenhoupt @mcc hard to find a computer scientist who isn't 😏
Show threadpandabutterMay 18, 2025
@aeva @mcc me, a programmer/language nerd: *rubs hands and cackles*
Show thread01d55May 20, 2025
@aeva @mcc I feel like literally only particle physics is doing this right. The humanities fucked up "modern" for everyone and have their own specific meaning of "cyborg" which is not even approximately the common meaning.
Show threadmoduluxMay 18, 2025
@mcc Easy solution, sort. Oh wait: https://rocq-prover.org/doc/V8.19.1/refman/language/core/sorts.html
Sorts — Coq 8.19.1 documentation

Show threadHugo MillsMay 18, 2025
@mcc I've had similar problems with "this bit" (meaning "piece"), and confusing people who think I'm talking about a binary digit...
Show threadpoetasterMay 18, 2025
@mcc I wonder about kinds of types and types of kind all the time.
Show threadEndlessMasonMay 18, 2025
@mcc
** biblical literalist creationists lurking behind the door waiting for you to turn the light on
Show threadBrian77May 18, 2025
@mcc Replying to the reply about “bit” being used for anything: When my wife worked in a lab as a junior, it was indicated to her to get a new tip for someones soldering iron. When she found the correct looking object, she replied “You mean this bit?”, not realising she was using the correct name 😀
Show threadCounting Is HardMay 18, 2025

@mcc Mathematicians have used pretty much every synonym of collection in the book: set, group, type, kind, sort, ring (as in ringleader & bandit ring), field (body), collection, category, space, variety, species, bundle, universe, domain, assembly...

Those are just ones I know off the top of my head. For all I know, troop, batch, bunch, platoon, etc. have all been taken too, but if not, I've got dibs on bunch

Show thread42TARAinglesMay 18, 2025
@mcc I still remember stumbling about this, and it is so interesting
Miscellany — Idris2 0.0 documentation

Show threadFlounderMay 18, 2025
@42triangles @mcc that's crazy (in the sense that its surprising while being excruciatingly logical), functional programming is something else
Show thread42TARAinglesMay 19, 2025
@fl0und3r @mcc dependently typed programming languages are fun LOL
Show threadghosttieMay 19, 2025
@mcc phylum
Show threadNolan BMay 19, 2025
@mcc Hope it doesn’t need to talk to Kubernetes.
Show threadMegMay 19, 2025
@mcc love me some higher typed types.