On Sat, 08 Sep 2001 10:20:18 +0900, Jiwoong Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
> I think Readability and comprehensibility are the main goal in writing and
>organizing a technical document.
>
> We have plenty of acronyms in this field. Some are public-domain (wide-spread and
>well-known) and some are newly defined by the author and are introduced to the
>Internet society. (Not ISOC.)
...
> Which one do you think is better ? :>
> Wise answers plz..
Acronyms aren't as bad as what people in other fields have to deal with.
At least we *have* the letters on our keyboards, and don't have to resort to
special typsetting because we have partial derivative symbols, or capital letters
with vector arrows over them, or other things like that...
Having said that, most style books say that acronyms when used in moderation
are acceptable, as long as at first use they are identified - in your example,
the use of ISOC as an acronym is OK if one of the following is true:
1) the reader is expected to have completed prerequisite work where the
acronym was defined, and thus should already know it - thus the frequent
use of 'RFC' in the IETF.
2) If the acronym is new or not reasonably expected to be known by
the audience, the first use should be spelled out and then the acronym
presented. For example: "In other news, the Internet Society (ISOC) announced.."
Additionally, this is a good spot to add definitions or expository material.
Valdis Kletnieks
Operating Systems Analyst
Virginia Tech
