[RFC] We need an ENTIER that does ceil, CENTIER?

[Jan Claeys]

On Fri, 2026-05-15 at 14:01 -0700, chris hermansen wrote:
> On Fri, May 15, 2026 at 10:39 AM Jan Claeys <lists@janc.be> wrote:
> 
> > On Sun, 2026-05-10 at 21:25 -0700, chris hermansen wrote:
> > > I don't know what anyone else thinks, but I cannot come up with a
> > > plausible explanation of why this one obviously French word ended
> > > up being used as the name for an operator in Algol 68.
> > 
> > The reason is simple: politics (French chauvinism is quite well-
> > known).
> 
> I have thought about this reply quite a bit in the last three hours
> and I would like to respectfully suggest that cultural or racial
> comments like this are not appropriate in this list.

I actually read that somewhere in a paper or an article about the
history of ALGOL, but can’t find it right now.


I’ve seen 2 explanations of why it’s in ALGOL 68 (and was in ALGOL 60
already), and both might be somewhat true, maybe even at the same time:

   1. is that “entier” was historically, at some point, used in old
      English mathematics texts, as they were often derived from older
      French texts. This was certainly no longer commonly the case by
      the time these languages were designed though.
   2. is that French international organisations, including standards
      organisations, often tried to smuggle “French” things in, as part
      of the French government’s efforts for the French language to
      stay relevant internationally.  Also see how many, especially
      older, international organisations use an abbreviation based on
      the French translation of their name: CIE, SI, UCI, FIFA, … 


-- 
Jan Claeys (please don't CC me when replying to the list)