On 22 June 2014 17:04, Tim <ignored_mailbox@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Why the hell couldn't the > computer just have said to set the clock manually, since it couldn't > manage to do it itself, instead of some moronic number code? I know this was a rhetorical question, but: These days software is expected to be localised into hundreds of different languages. Until that is done, the programmer does not know and must not assume what script/alphabet/language/character set an error might appear in, let alone what words it will contain. It could be a couple of characters of an ideographic script such as Chinese, which can convey a whole sentence in 2 or 3 "letters", or it could be several lines of hundreds of characters in the case of some Polynesian languages with restricted phonemic inventories. (I pick 2 extreme cases to make a point.) And errors by nature are unexpected. If, say, the system language has not yet been set at this point, then the right thing to do is not to display a message that the user might not be able to read or even copy down - could you write down a message in Japanese? And type it into Google? I speak a little Japanese and I couldn't - but to show a simple number that they could. -- Liam Proven * Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven@xxxxxxxxx * GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven@xxxxxxxxxxx * Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell: +44 7939-087884 -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Fedora Code of Conduct: http://fedoraproject.org/code-of-conduct Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines Have a question? Ask away: http://ask.fedoraproject.org
