From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on dcvr.yhbt.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-ASN: AS53758 23.128.96.0/24 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.3 required=3.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID,DKIM_VALID_AU,FREEMAIL_FORGED_FROMDOMAIN,FREEMAIL_FROM, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,NICE_REPLY_A, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW,SPF_HELO_PASS,SPF_PASS shortcircuit=no autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by dcvr.yhbt.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 88F071F5AE for ; Wed, 16 Jun 2021 17:44:18 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S231374AbhFPRqS (ORCPT ); Wed, 16 Jun 2021 13:46:18 -0400 Received: from lindbergh.monkeyblade.net ([23.128.96.19]:40948 "EHLO lindbergh.monkeyblade.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S230350AbhFPRqR (ORCPT ); Wed, 16 Jun 2021 13:46:17 -0400 Received: from mail-qt1-x834.google.com (mail-qt1-x834.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4864:20::834]) by lindbergh.monkeyblade.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 758A4C061574 for ; Wed, 16 Jun 2021 10:44:10 -0700 (PDT) Received: by mail-qt1-x834.google.com with SMTP id d9so2487118qtp.11 for ; Wed, 16 Jun 2021 10:44:10 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20161025; h=subject:to:cc:references:from:message-id:date:user-agent :mime-version:in-reply-to:content-language:content-transfer-encoding; bh=AKhaONcD9Sku7VNnVBktdpoHZTUrMMlaQd7ct7Le/aI=; b=jznesQl8DRpdBBIonZjT/qblBdh42ghZzdbXZNdowAlzF0UO+inmFcAIWwAORD7duw 0mpNzHcVWtd7SP2v/f6QLM5ycGcn/1tw8u+7dOwcGeV8tvpPUohouj7J9xHoJY1+QStY +0ei+kYhGi+5TZPEvbnhLVHiaS8zMBJjH4vuP4KfMzywvoOVuYdwxMM4ylVe48XUt7Ph 5tF4IdZyQu077n+81olsPF9KYF+bYQ/YGNSk0iMGvPwPQe5ECMrzQsjX0CqXsg5e/v9S EJpTWEDD4zuF6S0W3GBX42bbmQ4twCCjdUqS3khaWyyQ/qeAFT7SzEZNF+uzrjcaynzb DsTA== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:subject:to:cc:references:from:message-id:date :user-agent:mime-version:in-reply-to:content-language :content-transfer-encoding; bh=AKhaONcD9Sku7VNnVBktdpoHZTUrMMlaQd7ct7Le/aI=; b=p6Gotz+Itgcj6EBp3dUCUu13qwap+VNZGPrMhiWIqachbUlcLVYzVTj8MRGjRXt+gn FgS0BJ2F5tpiZtDksbzdl+1xrUfVfwKupSTir0XP5XY/8Ojvz2/Mjb+tADZbXIldcZOA OKdntdAe66Rqczm4vIIXoE12A523Q1sqc1RmoAhgVAgLLQh7AwDfKE7E1+5CWullQcg/ nS1Qp1SUNkp2bOJlo0ojjTIsCXOKsqTl+lIc4/Lt6QJ1sU7/O3uI71xt19O2eu13yi/I BAc8AifA85VZu9lSEldbQo3V01O31xzabIdz2kZUy8P4ldgIj0+uwxW6I8Rcghp+UpPq oQ4g== X-Gm-Message-State: AOAM533gU0fnvPU5JoUg/JfdpSj+549bsxbgpcMW2cUE5HGRLkb3uvl3 PA4ZjgBATt52SO965BFaiTQ= X-Google-Smtp-Source: ABdhPJxsVLI8OIRa5iYqSZzPxJ4K25wVQ4plUvY62iCev4flChK8bNkq2G6llzKfdjdtJDE42r+Aug== X-Received: by 2002:aed:306f:: with SMTP id 102mr979831qte.197.1623865449578; Wed, 16 Jun 2021 10:44:09 -0700 (PDT) Received: from ?IPv6:2600:1700:e72:80a0:4142:2009:c909:559c? ([2600:1700:e72:80a0:4142:2009:c909:559c]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id s81sm2033250qka.82.2021.06.16.10.44.08 (version=TLS1_3 cipher=TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 bits=128/128); Wed, 16 Jun 2021 10:44:09 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: [PATCH v3 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they To: Junio C Hamano , =?UTF-8?B?w4Z2YXIgQXJuZmrDtnLDsCBCamFybWFzb24=?= Cc: Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget , git@vger.kernel.org, sandals@crustytoothpaste.net, jrnieder@gmail.com, emilyshaffer@google.com, Andrei Rybak , Felipe Contreras , Robert Karszniewicz , Jeff King , "Kerry, Richard" , Phillip Susi , Johannes Schindelin , Bagas Sanjaya , Derrick Stolee , Derrick Stolee References: <87a6nryt51.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com> From: Derrick Stolee Message-ID: <695e78ed-25cf-69e6-8bc1-dad8e55be697@gmail.com> Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2021 13:44:07 -0400 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:78.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/78.11.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Language: en-US Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org On 6/16/2021 1:06 AM, Junio C Hamano wrote: > Junio C Hamano writes: > >> FWIW, I am not happy with this version for that reason, either. >> >> I wonder if replacing the first two bullet points ("Removing" and >> "If you need to talk about") above with what was added to the >> CodingGuidelines by the "succinct matter-of-factly description" in >> >> https://lore.kernel.org/git/87a6nz2fda.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com/ >> >> would be sufficient. > > So, here is what I plan to queue on top of these four patches to > replace my "not even draft" garbage with what you wrote, with a bit > of copyediting. > > Comments? ... > + - Prefer succinctness and matter-of-factly describing functionality > + in the abstract. E.g. > + > + --short:: Emit output in the short-format. > + > + and avoid something like these overly verbose alternatives: > + > + --short:: Use this to emit output in the short-format. > + --short:: You can use this to get output in the short-format. > + --short:: A user who prefers shorter output could.... > + --short:: Should a person and/or program want shorter output, he > + she/they/it can... > + > + This practice often eliminates the need to involve human actors in > + your description, but it is a good practice regardless of the > + avoidance of gendered pronouns. I wasn't a huge fan of this "example first" approach, but you did a good job of tying it to the purpose and the rest of the recommendations. > + - When it becomes awkward to stick to this style, prefer "you" when > + addressing the the hypothetical user, and possibly "we" when > + discussing how the program might react to the user. E.g. > + > + You can use this option instead of --xyz, but we might remove > + support for it in future versions. > + > + while keeping in mind that you can probably be less verbose, e.g. > + > + Use this instead of --xyz. This option might be removed in future > + versions. > + > + - If you still need to refer to an example person that is > + third-person singular, you may resort to "singular they" to avoid > + "he/she/him/her", e.g. > + > + A contributor asks their upstream to pull from them. > + > + Note that this sounds ungrammatical and unnatural to those who > + learned English as a second language in some parts of the world. This version looks good to me. It is probably worth adding Ævar in a Co-authored-by line. Thanks, -Stolee