From: Doug Ewell (dewell@adelphia.net)
Date: Tue Jul 22 2003 - 03:42:53 EDT
Pim Blokland <pblokland at planet dot nl> wrote:
>> I'm not sure that even all English users appreciate the computer
>> related jargon and acronyms that their geek developers want to
>> force them to learn and use.
>
> Hm... Personally I feel just the opposite. I think the computer
> industry has taken too many normal words and forced new meanings
> upon them. Words like program, compiler, desktop, window, folder,
> mouse, &c., all have been cast into new roles; all were once
> unambiguous, but nowadays they need more clarification if their
> meaning is not clear from the context.
I suspect it's been centuries since "program" had only one unambiguous
meaning. And I doubt many people are confused between the "compiler" of
an encyclopedia or anthology and a high-level language "compiler." But
hmm, "language"... there's a word whose overloading has certainly caused
some confusion.
-Doug Ewell
Fullerton, California
http://users.adelphia.net/~dewell/
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