Re: c++ stl
On Feb 20, 5:05 pm, Rui Maciel <rui.mac...@gmail.com> wrote:
James Kanze wrote:
On Feb 19, 1:02 pm, Rui Maciel <rui.mac...@gmail.com> wrote:
James Kanze wrote:
Which is, or has been, the case. As Leigh says, language
evolves, and today, the exact meaning of STL depends on who is
talking---in other words, the acronym doesn't have an exact
meaning.
The acronym doesn't have an exact meaning only to those who
don't know what the Standard Template Library is.
The acronym doesn't have an exact meaning for those who wish
to communicate precisely with other people.
Only if you restrict the set of other people to those who use
and understand the acronym the same way you do. My experience
has been that C++ programmers use it with a variety of meanings,
so it doesn't have a precise meaning. You can try and pretend
it does, but all you achieve is poor communication.
[...]
There's no should in it. There's nobody who is making immutable
laws---even in French, the academie fran=E7aise can't stop the
evolution of language. It's just a fact of life.
You are trying to intellectualize and explain a failure to understand a
specific topic with appeals to the mutability of any languguage. It's
silly and disingenuous. No one can come here and claim that STL actually
means "super terrific library" or "strings, templates and lists" and then
proceed to try to defend that nonsense by claiming that, well, "you can't
stop the evolution of language".
Actually, anyone who wants can *claim* anything they like about
the language; see Humpty Dumpty. When a person uses a word, it
means exactly what they want it to mean. Communication depends
on consensus: if what I "want" the word to mean is the same as
what my listeners think it means, I communicate successfully.
If it doesn't, I don't.
The fact that we're having this discussion proves that there is
no consensus regarding STL. Which means that the term is
ambiguous. You can continue pretending that you (or someone
you're basing your opinion on) is the ultimate authority on the
meaning of the term, or you can effectively communicate with the
greater C++ community; but you can't do both.
In this case, just because some people fail to know the
meaning of STL,
They know their meaning, just as well as you know yours.
If someone wastes bandwidth with claims that "STL means
STandard Library" then that person is both ignorant and
a troll.
Or more likely, they're just repeating something they've
learned.
--
James Kanze