> From: Ian Clark
> 
> Look, I can use any set of names we want. But I can't even make a
> start without a set of names, and once chosen they unavoidably get set
> in concrete. Has anyone got a showstopper of a reason not to go with
> the list in
> http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Vocabulary/FormalPageNames ?
> ...which is the same as column 4 in table 2 of
> http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Vocabulary/Discussion
> 
> Aren't they're only placeholders as far as the end-user is concerned?
> Is anyone seriously going to type them or have to remember them? I
> can't think of a task that needs that.

After having attempted to author a couple of pages for the wiki dictionary, one 
thing that I have noticed is that it is useful to have "natural" (memorable) 
names when trying to write links to other pages. I'm moving more to the feeling 
that we should choose a simple set of names even if it means it doesn't exactly 
match some Official list. By and large I like the Red Book names, but I would 
support making a few changes where they result in more natural names:

asciicircum -> circum
asciitilde  -> tilde     
period      -> dot

Sorry to throw a spanner in the works!

> There's an argument for having a consistent set of names, taken from
> some published source, not just an Irish Parliament of what we fancy.
> Someone suggested the set from the Adobe Red Book and that's what I
> went with. Even though it says "period" for "dot" (which I personally
> don't fancy much, but I don't think it matters).
> 
> Have I missed something in the long discussion we've had about it on
> this thread?
> If so stop me before I do another thing.
> 
> Ian
> 
> 
> On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 9:22 PM, neville holmes <holme...@yahoo.com.au>
> wrote:
> > I know it's rather presumptuous of me coming into this
> > project from the sidelines, but, given the idea is to
> > make things easier for novices, I do feel careful
> > consideration should be given to J names.
> >
> > For example, in the names of Ian Clark's stubs:
> >
> > =   equal
> > =.  equalperiod
> > =:  equalcolon
> > <   less
> > <.  lessperiod
> > <:  lesscolon
> >>   greater
> >>.  greaterperiod
> >>:  greatercolon
> >
> > Surely it should be equaldot &c. simply because,
> > for a novice it's one syllable rather than three
> > and for someone needing an English dictionary
> > it's less ambiguous.
> >
> > Even more pedantically, less and greater strictly
> > refer to magnitudes and lower and higher would be
> > better.  Otherwise, less means subtraction and
> > lesser would be better than less.
> >
> > Neville Holmes, P.O. Box 2412, Bakery Hill 3354, Victoria
> >
> > Send instant messages to your online friends
> http://au.messenger.yahoo.com
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
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> http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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