On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 11:09:14PM +0200, Felipe Contreras wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 1:19 AM, Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > When people talk about the staging area I tend to get confused. ÂI
> > think there's an idea that because it sounds more concrete, there is
> > less to explain --- or maybe I am just wired the wrong way.
>
> I don't like the phrase "staging area". A "stage" already has an area.
> You put things on the stage. Sometimes there are multiple stages.
As a native English speaker, this makes no sense to me. A stage as a
noun is either:
1. a raised platform where you give performances
2. a phase that some process goes through (e.g., "the early stages of
Alzheimer's disease")
Whereas the term "staging area" is a stopping point on a journey for
collecting and organizing items. I couldn't find a definite etymology
online, but it seems to be military in origin (e.g., you would send all
your tanks to a staging area, then once assembled and organized, begin
your attack). You can't just call it "staging", which is not a noun, and
the term "stage" is not a synonym. "Staging area" has a very particular
meaning.
So the term "staging area" makes perfect sense to me; it is where we
collect changes to make a commit. I am willing to accept that does not
to others (native English speakers or no), and that we may need to come
up with a better term. But I think just calling it "the stage" is even
worse; it loses the concept that it is a place for collecting and
organizing.
-Peff
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