[Ffmpeg-cvslog] r7275 - trunk/libavcodec/dsputil.c

[The Wanderer]

M?ns Rullg?rd wrote:

> The Wanderer <inverseparadox at comcast.net> writes:
> 
>> M?ns Rullg?rd wrote:

>>> I wasn't aware that the naming of these libraries was that
>>> strict.
>> 
>> The naming of these libraries in particular probably isn't. I apply
>> that policy to all libraries, and all personal names, and all place
>> names, and so forth. Capitalization is part of the spelling of any
>> name, and varying it based on position is incorrect.
> 
> I'd argue that some names follow the same rules as regular words,
> i.e. they are capitalized at the beginning of a sentence.

I'm aware that this is the usage. I don't think I've yet come across an
example I'd agree with.

F'rinstance, if you have a historical personage referred to as So-and-so
von Such-and-such, common surname "von Such-and-such", I would *not*
consider it correct to begin a sentence with "Von Such-and-such".
Similarly with "mac This-and-that", and the associated "mcThus-and-so".

F'ranotherinstance, I object vociferously to the local big-name
newspaper's practice of referring to eBay as "EBay" in their headlines.
(I would object similarly to the comparable alteration of "iPod", but I
somehow don't remember having seen it made.)

F'rathirdinstance, I've yet to come across anyone who would admit to
thinking that the first E of e. e. cummings' name should be capitalized
if it comes at the beginning of its sentence.

If you have examples which you think might convince me, please do share
them - though perhaps not here, since this is trending offtopic.

> I'd also argue that the libav* names fall into this category.  The
> names are not typically used in a case sensitive context as, for
> instance, names of library functions normally are.  Thus they should
> be subjected to the rules of normal given names (always capitalized)

As the above may indicate, I do not go along with "normal given names
are always capitalized" as a given. Proper names, given or otherwise,
have specific capitalization, and I maintain that for full correctness
it must be preserved in writing them.

> or those of regular words (capitalized sometimes).

I'd argue that library names, such as the libav* names, do not fall into
that category - and I think that, in thinking about this, I may have
figured out why I consider them "proper names" in this sense: like other
proper names but unlike any other kind of noun I can think of offhand,
they never take an article.

>> (For a possible comparison, how wrong would it seem to you to see
>> it called - say - "LibAvCodec"?)
> 
> That is just outrageously, hideously, dreadfully ugly.  It looks like
> something a Java programmer might write.

And that is a slightly more exaggerated version of my reaction to seeing
"Libavcodec" instead of "libavcodec". (Or, for that matter, "Mplayer"
instead of "MPlayer" - preserving capitalization again, in the opposite
direction.)

-- 
       The Wanderer

Warning: Simply because I argue an issue does not mean I agree with any
side of it.

Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.