On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 02:58:50PM -0400, Ted Unangst wrote: > > I see no reason to prefer hyphenated, but I'm modern like that. > Wikipedia tells me that the Oxford dictionary deleted 16000 hyphens > recently. >
especially where we invent new terms, there is a tendency to hyphenate. i'm guilty of that too. it's not great though. > As for nul, null, NUL, and NULL, here's my view, as I come up with it. > > NULL is the C constant. It is a noun. > null is an adjective in the English language. > > The C standard says nothing at all about nul or NUL. '\0' is called > the null character. [Basically, the C standard is written in English > and uses English words to describe things.] > > As a practical matter, I think it makes (a tiny bit of) sense to > invent a new constant name NUL different from NULL. But the > similarity does confuse people. And nul is a made up word. It > doesn't exist. Can't use that. But always using NUL is too hard on > the eyes. > > I doubt changing things is worth the bother, but using > "null-terminated" or "null terminated" would be consistent with the C > standard. I'd say the standard is pretty close to an unassailable > authority on C termiology. we've been down this road a few times before. all i'll say is your sentiment "I doubt changing things is worth the bother" seems fitting. jmc
