On 8/18/06, Martin Maechler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >>>>> "Gregor" == Gregor Gorjanc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >>>>> on Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:48:40 +0200 writes:
>
> Gregor> Hin-Tak Leung wrote:
> >> Gregor Gorjanc wrote:
> >>> Hello!
> >>>
> >>> There is a tiny typo in list.Rd.
> >>>
> >>> Index: R/src/library/base/man/list.Rd
> >>> ===================================================================
> >>> --- ../man/list.Rd (revision 38909)
> >>> +++ ../man/list.Rd (working copy)
> >>> @@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
> >>> inconsistent with functions such as \code{\link{as.character}}, and is
> >>> for efficiency since lists can be expensive to copy.)
> >>>
> >>> - \code{is.list} returns \code{TRUE} iff its argument
> >>> + \code{is.list} returns \code{TRUE} if its argument
> >>>
> >>
> >> Those are not typo's - (there are two "iff"'s in that paragraph).
> >> "iff" is a short-hand for "if and only if", in some culture.
>
> Gregor> OK, I did not know that and I appologize for making noise on the
> list
> Gregor> for this. However, I wonder how many people know this?
>
> I think I'd like to keep fostering a culture where this is
> known. It's such a beatiful useful short concise language element.
> If you don't know, nowadays there's Wikipedia where you can
> find it.
>
> Gregor> It is fine to have some short-hands (as IMHO, RTFM,
> Gregor> etc. in e-mails), but these can be an obstacle for
> Gregor> exact understanding of the documentation, specially
> Gregor> for non-english users.
>
> I knew what 'iff' means many years before I knew any of the
> above (and any other) e-mail acronyms, .... But that just shows
> how old I am....
>
> Martin
I think the documentation should be as clear as possible including
to non-English speakers and to non-mathematicians and that means
writing things out in full where there could be confusion.
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