Jeff King venit, vidit, dixit 21.03.2011 11:54: > On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 10:01:53AM +0100, Michael J Gruber wrote: > >>>> + Show only commits which have at least resp. at most that many >>>> + commits, where `--max-parents=8` denotes infinity (i.e. no upper >>>> + limit). In fact, 7 (or any negative number) does, but 8 is >>>> + infinity sideways 8-) >>> >>> I didn't quite parse this "resp." in the middle. >> >> Well, there are two options (--min-parents, --max-parents) which we >> describe in one paragraph. Sooo... > > I figured out what you were trying to say. I just had never seen the > abbreviation "resp." before. I guessed it meant "respectively", but the > syntax is all wrong. > > Digging around via google, I was able to find that it is a mathematical > term with a specific syntax, but one I had never seen before. Maybe I am > just clueless and sheltered, but after 30-odd years of reading English > (12 of which involved reading academic computer science papers!), I > can't help but think it is not all that common and may confuse other > readers. Add on top that it is usually used in parentheses, which helps > make it more obvious what is going on. In my community it is very common, which may partly be due to the fact that there is a strong proportion of non-native speakers. It took it for granted that it's a standard expression. > > I really think "Show only commits which have at least (or at most, > respectively) that many commits" says the same thing, but is way more > accessible. Sounds good, I'm happy with that. Resend or squash on apply? > >>> That way it is obvious that "--merges" cancels a previous --min-parents >>> on the command line (maybe the text should be "this is an alias for..." >>> to make it clear that doing it is exactly the same). >> >> Yes, that is helpful. I have doubts about "alias" for. Without wanting >> to sound elitist or something, I have the impression that we start >> catering for users who understand "equivalent" more reliably than "alias". > > I just wanted to make sure people didn't think "equivalent" meant "has a > similar effect to" as opposed to "is exactly as if you did". But reading > it again, I think "equivalent" is fine, and I see you picked it up in > the latest series. I may be wrong about what is common in this case, too. For me, "alias" is foremost a technical term, and I would guess that many non-native speaker know "alias" either in the technical sense or not at all, but not so much in the common English sense. But either way is fine. Michael -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html