Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S933854Ab3CUQAa (ORCPT ); Thu, 21 Mar 2013 12:00:30 -0400 Received: from mail.skyhub.de ([78.46.96.112]:58444 "EHLO mail.skyhub.de" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S932994Ab3CUQAV (ORCPT ); Thu, 21 Mar 2013 12:00:21 -0400 Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2013 17:00:15 +0100 From: Borislav Petkov To: "Paul E. McKenney" Cc: Steven Rostedt , Frederic Weisbecker , Rob Landley , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, josh@joshtriplett.org, zhong@linux.vnet.ibm.com, khilman@linaro.org, geoff@infradead.org, tglx@linutronix.de, Arjan van de Ven Subject: Re: [PATCH] nohz1: Documentation Message-ID: <20130321160015.GA10992@pd.tnic> Mail-Followup-To: Borislav Petkov , "Paul E. McKenney" , Steven Rostedt , Frederic Weisbecker , Rob Landley , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, josh@joshtriplett.org, zhong@linux.vnet.ibm.com, khilman@linaro.org, geoff@infradead.org, tglx@linutronix.de, Arjan van de Ven References: <1363636794.15703.32@driftwood> <20130318222548.GG3656@linux.vnet.ibm.com> <1363822338.6345.33.camel@gandalf.local.home> <20130320235545.GL3637@linux.vnet.ibm.com> <1363825631.6345.45.camel@gandalf.local.home> <20130321022259.GM3637@linux.vnet.ibm.com> <20130321101650.GA11214@pd.tnic> <20130321151811.GR3637@linux.vnet.ibm.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20130321151811.GR3637@linux.vnet.ibm.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2586 Lines: 64 On Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 08:18:11AM -0700, Paul E. McKenney wrote: > Actually, this is a generic transformation. Given an English verb, > you almost always add "ing" to create a noun. Since "round-robin" is > used as a verb, ... which sounds, in this case, weird IMHO. :-) > as in "The scheduler will round-robin between the two SCHED_RR > tasks", I think the "correct" way to say it is "The scheduler will select tasks in a round-robin fashion..." But while it is correct (for some accepted definition of correct), this is slow, has too many words and we don't want that - we want fast! We want a lot less instructions in the pipe! This way, we burn a lot less energy when talking. :-) > "round-robining" may be used as a noun denoting the action > corresponding to the verb "round-robin". There is no doubt an > argument as to whether this should be spelled "round-robining" or > "round-robinning", but I will leave this to those who care enough to > argue about it. ;-) Hey sir, you're preaching to the choir - I'm all for doing all kinds of weird/funny experiments with language... > The thing about English is that it is an open-source language, and > always has been. English is defined by its usage, and the wise > dictionary-makers try their best to keep up. ... yes, and then there are the English language Nazis who wouldn't allow that - their rules are stricter than software APIs and breaking userspace compatibility. Technical people, OTOH, are much more willing and not afraid to take the language and mold it in such a form so that it works for them instead of adhering to ancient rules. Which is cool. That's why I was pointing out the "round-robining" - nice and cool. And look how much shorter it is: round-robining = iterate over the items on a list by periodically switching from one to the next in a circular order. Now imagine the pressure on I$ the two versions create. And compare. :-) > (The unwise ones attempt to stop the evolution of the English > language.) Everything good and everything bad about English stems from > this property. ;-) Yeah, I've had to deal with enough of those evolution-stopping idiots during my days at the university. Well, I've got three words for them: "Resistance is futile!" :-) -- Regards/Gruss, Boris. Sent from a fat crate under my desk. Formatting is fine. -- -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/