Re: [using gcc book] ch1 rewrite

[Chris Devers <cdevers at pobox dot com>]

On Tue, 2 Sep 2003, Robert Dewar wrote:

> > > Personally, before getting involved with this book,
> > > I also thought that GCC stood for "GNU C Compiler",
> > > and wasn't aware of the newer meaning.
>
>
> Well that of course was because you were misinformed :-)

As were a great many others, I suspect :)

> I personally see no reason to risk misinforming others by even slightly
> emphasizing the old and now obsolete use of the acronym!

On the other hand, not giving the old meaning at least a mention smacks
too much of Newspeak for me:

   ...GCC has always stood for GNU Compiler Collection...

   ...Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia...

   ...America has always been at war with... err.. right.

Really though, the old meaning is the one familiar to many users, most of
whom probably don't realize that GCC has always, err... right.

If the book didn't at least mention the old meaning, right at the outset,
then I suspect many readers will be thrown off balance at the outset. It
seems better to me to get that point out of the way & move along.


In any case, the point is moot, as the book is off to the printers now :)



-- 
Chris Devers cdevers@pobox.com
http://devers.homeip.net:8080/

VLSI [Very Large Scale Integration.]
The successor to LSI (Large Scale Integration) and the predecessor to
ELSI (Extremely Large Scale Integration). See also HYPER-.

The use of vague size modifiers leads to problems since our technology
is quite wont to leap forward. We could soon see ULSI (Unbelievably
Large Scale Integration). Follow that, Carver!

    -- from _The Computer Contradictionary_, Stan Kelly-Bootle, 1995