nonce

[Paul Lynch]

Definitely. I was quite floored to find an honest ot goodness
synonym for singleton. And it's obscure enough so it doesn't have any
significant connotation baggage, which is great.

Unfortunately, nonce has considerable negative baggage in both
English, and, I believe, Australian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonce

Wikipedia is about as accurate as usual, but that doesn't really make
any difference.

Paul

 

[Paul Battley]

My main problem with "eigenclass" is that it's in German, whereas
everything else in Ruby is in English. I actually suggested "own
class" a long time ago. Eigenclass is basically a German translation
of that. I love German -- majored in it in college, even -- but
"eigenclass" just strikes me as a bit joke-like or perhaps a bit
pretentious.

'Eigen' is indeed German, but I've always seen the word as patterned
after the mathematical term 'eigenvector', which is used in English.

In any case, if it were really German, wouldn't it be 'Eigenklasse'?

Paul.

 

[dblack]

Hi --

'Eigen' is indeed German, but I've always seen the word as patterned
after the mathematical term 'eigenvector', which is used in English.

I'd rather pattern it after the rest of Ruby

In any case, if it were really German, wouldn't it be 'Eigenklasse'?

I think we should compromise and use "singleton Klasse"


David

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[Guillaume Marcais]

Le 11 ao=FBt 06, =E0 08:17, (e-mail address removed) a =E9crit :

Hi --



My main problem with "eigenclass" is that it's in German, whereas
everything else in Ruby is in English. I actually suggested "own
class" a long time ago. Eigenclass is basically a German translation
of that. I love German -- majored in it in college, even -- but
"eigenclass" just strikes me as a bit joke-like or perhaps a bit
pretentious.

Maybe, but eigenvalues and eigenvectors are now common terminology in=20
mathematics in English. It beats the over used word "characteristic".=20
In a sense, I feel that the eigen- prefix has been around long enough=20
in the scientific lingo to be used for our purpose.

Guillaume.

I've refrained from using the term "own class" pre-emptively, though,
which in the "Darwinian" world of bringing about a fait accompli in
the area of renaming singleton classes takes it pretty much out of the
running


David

--=20
http://www.rubypowerandlight.com =3D> Ruby/Rails training & = consultancy
----> SEE SPECIAL DEAL FOR RUBY/RAILS USERS GROUPS! <-----
http://dablog.rubypal.com =3D> D[avid ]A[. ]B[lack's][ Web]log
http://www.manning.com/black =3D> book, Ruby for Rails
http://www.rubycentral.org =3D> Ruby Central, Inc.

 

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

Hi --



My main problem with "eigenclass" is that it's in German, whereas
everything else in Ruby is in English. I actually suggested "own
class" a long time ago. Eigenclass is basically a German translation
of that. I love German -- majored in it in college, even -- but
"eigenclass" just strikes me as a bit joke-like or perhaps a bit
pretentious.

I've refrained from using the term "own class" pre-emptively, though,
which in the "Darwinian" world of bringing about a fait accompli in
the area of renaming singleton classes takes it pretty much out of the
running


David

1. The term "eigenvector" has only become a de facto standard in English
fairly recently. A great deal of theoretical math done by French and
Russian mathematicians used non-German terminology for a somewhat
obvious reason before the two World Wars. When this mathematics was
translated into English, the term "proper vector" was heavily used, as
well as some others. Other instances of this phenomenon are the
Cauchy-Schwartz-Bunyakovsky inequality and the Gauss-Legendre least
squares algorithm.

2. What's an "eigen-nonce"?

<ducking>

 

[Logan Capaldo]

Honestly. Have you ever even used the work _nonce_ in your entire
life?

I have several times. I say "for the nonce" all the time.

 

[Trans]

I have several times. I say "for the nonce" all the time.

It really amazes me. I wonder in what region you reside. I have lived
all over the United States: Mayland, North Carolina, Florida, Texas,
New Mexico, Chicago, and among all variety of income and education
levels, and I have never once heard the phrase. So it really surprises
me that out of wood work of this mailing we find so many people that
use it all the time. Is this some sort of cosmic Rubyist connection?

How to determine a Rubyist from the average human being: Have you used
the word 'nonce' since Tuesday? ;-)

T.

P.S. And to be sure ask them: What type of animal can't be implemented?

 

[gwtmp01]

My main problem with "eigenclass" is that it's in German, whereas
everything else in Ruby is in English.

Hmm. What about 'lambda'?

Gary Wright

 

[ara.t.howard]

It really amazes me. I wonder in what region you reside. I have lived
all over the United States: Mayland, North Carolina, Florida, Texas,
New Mexico, Chicago, and among all variety of income and education
levels, and I have never once heard the phrase. So it really surprises
me that out of wood work of this mailing we find so many people that
use it all the time. Is this some sort of cosmic Rubyist connection?

How to determine a Rubyist from the average human being: Have you used
the word 'nonce' since Tuesday? ;-)

just nonce.

sncr.

-a

 

[James Britt]

How to determine a Rubyist from the average human being: Have you used
the word 'nonce' since Tuesday? ;-)

Gee.


I have never used that word in my life. Ever.

Do I have to go back to Java now?


James Britt

Born-and-bred New Yorker, now in living (near) Phoenix, AZ

 

[Trans]

Gee.


I have never used that word in my life. Ever.

Do I have to go back to Java now?

lol.

No. I think you can avoid it if you can name that most mysterious of
animals.

T.

 

[Logan Capaldo]

I prefer the idea of making up a word (a-la eigenclass) to reusing
a common
or uncommon English word that doesn't quite mean what we want.

"own class" is pretty good, but it's perhaps easily confused with
the normal
class of an object. Maybe some others along the same lines,
possible calling
out that this is a single unique use of that class would be more
specific:

[snip some names]

Are we really gonna start _this_ thread again? Anyway, my vote is for
"warm fuzzy thing".

 

[Bill Kelly]

My main problem with "eigenclass" is that it's in German, whereas
everything else in Ruby is in English.

Gesundheit.
Umlaut.
Zeitgeist.
Wunderkind.
uber-...
Strafe.
Spiel.
Schadenfreude.
Poltergeist.
Gestalt.
Doppelganger.
Blitz.
Angst.
Kindergarten.


What is "English" anyway? Most of our words came from _some_ other
langauage. Would you be suggesting only anglo-saxon derived words
are appropriate for Ruby?


... Adieu, hope my post was apropos and that I haven't made a faux
pas or some sort of gauche inappropriate critique; of course that
sort of thing would be de rigeur for Usenet and probably inducing of
deja vu. Well gotta ask my protoge to take the cuisine out of the
microwave, the office is about to head out en masse to catch the
risque matinee du jour. (I hope there's plenty of double entendre.)
En route, I'll pick up my fiancee - she's a fan of the genre. With
luck, after the finale, there'll be an encore presentation.


Regards,

agent provocateur? or enfant terrible?

 

[Simen Edvardsen]

I think we should compromise and use "singleton Klasse"

We really should have a Japanese name for it. What's Japanese for
"Singleton class" ?

 

[Chad Perrin]

Hmm. What about 'lambda'?

I was about to complain about the overlap with other, more common uses
of the term in computer science, but considering the way Ruby uses
"block" I guess it's not that big a deal for Ruby. I'm already confused
about how to refer to some things, anyway.

 

[Trans]

Instead of a singleton class how about using it to denote code that is executed
only the first time it is processed.

def learn_leason
nounce { touch :hand => :stove_top; puts 'Ouch' }
touch :hand => :cool_water; puts 'Ahhh'
end

loop { learn_leason }

Output:
Ouch
Ahhh
Ahhh
Ahhh
...

or even like this

loop { nounce { index = 0 }
do_something_useful
index += 1
}

How might that be implemented? (s/nounce/nonce/ btw)

T.

 

[Chad Perrin]

It really amazes me. I wonder in what region you reside. I have lived
all over the United States: Mayland, North Carolina, Florida, Texas,
New Mexico, Chicago, and among all variety of income and education
levels, and I have never once heard the phrase. So it really surprises
me that out of wood work of this mailing we find so many people that
use it all the time. Is this some sort of cosmic Rubyist connection?

I've lived in Minnesota, Montana, California, Hawaii, Florida, Colorado,
and Italy, and have visited a fair number of other places as well. I
don't think I've forgotten any of the places I've lived, and am not
about to even try to list the places I've visited. In all that time,
I've heard two other people use the term "nonce" in casual
conversation, and used it a fair bit myself. It's not common, but it
does happen -- and I've never had to explain to someone what the word
meant. Frankly, this is the first time it has ever occurred to me that
I might say it to someone that doesn't know what it means.

 

[dblack]

Hi --

Gesundheit.
Umlaut.
Zeitgeist.
Wunderkind.
uber-...
Strafe.
Spiel.
Schadenfreude.
Poltergeist.
Gestalt.
Doppelganger.
Blitz.
Angst.
Kindergarten.


What is "English" anyway? Most of our words came from _some_ other
langauage. Would you be suggesting only anglo-saxon derived words
are appropriate for Ruby?

I'm suggesting that "eigenclass" sounds affected and a little silly to
me, and out of place in Ruby.


David

--
http://www.rubypowerandlight.com => Ruby/Rails training & consultancy
----> SEE SPECIAL DEAL FOR RUBY/RAILS USERS GROUPS! <-----
http://dablog.rubypal.com => D[avid ]A[. ]B[lack's][ Web]log
http://www.manning.com/black => book, Ruby for Rails
http://www.rubycentral.org => Ruby Central, Inc.

 

[Trans]

I've lived in Minnesota, Montana, California, Hawaii, Florida, Colorado,
and Italy, and have visited a fair number of other places as well. I
don't think I've forgotten any of the places I've lived, and am not
about to even try to list the places I've visited. In all that time,
I've heard two other people use the term "nonce" in casual
conversation, and used it a fair bit myself. It's not common, but it
does happen -- and I've never had to explain to someone what the word
meant. Frankly, this is the first time it has ever occurred to me that
I might say it to someone that doesn't know what it means.

Fascinating. So you were actaully born with a priori knowledge of the
word nonce.

T.

 

[Trans]

Fascinating. So you were actaully born with a priori knowledge of the
word nonce.

Oops. That's with a ;-)

T.