On Fri 2008-03-28 at 09:10h, Xavier Hanin wrote on ivy-user: > On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 9:03 AM, Gilles Scokart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I like the hints syntax under dependencies. (Even I'm not sure hints > > is the right word). > > Maybe an english speaker could help clarify this?
I'm not an english speaker, but the term "hint" in programming contexts usually means some piece of information that helps to optimize a process/algorithm, but doesn't change its semantics. For example hints in SQL queries, which may improve the execution plan of a query, but don't change its result. Or with a lookup algorithms, it may be possible to specify a key/index as a hint where to start the search, so that the algorithm might find the target faster. But it only impacts the execution time of the algorithm, the actual result will be exactly the same regardless of what was specified as a hint. Another example is hints on branch instructions on modern CPUs, which tell the CPU whether the instruction is more likely to branch or not, so that the CPU can speculatively execute the instructions that follow until the branch condition has finished evaluating. If the hint turns out to be wrong, the program merely runs slower. Sometimes a "hint" does influence the actual result, but only insofar as a different correct result is picked from a set of several correct results. "Font hinting" is an example of that. Therefore I wouldn't use the word "hint" here with Ivy. -- Niklas Matthies
