last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
another person and they were having some difficulties because of
different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
professional programmers pronounce these things?

1. '\0'

2. '\n', '\a', '\b', '\f', etc.

3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)

4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
"character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"

5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)

6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)

7. ++x, x++, x += n

8. argc, argv


thanks

Franz Hose wrote:

> last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
> another person and they were having some difficulties because of
> different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
> professional programmers pronounce these things?

Frankly code is not read aloud very often.

> 1. '\0'

null char

> 2. '\n', '\a', '\b', '\f', etc.

newline, bell, backspace, form feed.

> 3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)

null pointer constant, ASCII null.

> 4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
> "character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"

I'll pick 4a

> 5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)

As the dictionary pronounces it.

> 6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)

y is assigned to x, x is equal to y.

> 7. ++x, x++, x += n

preincrement x, postincrement x, x plus equals n.

> 8. argc, argv

Aey-Aar-Gee-Cee, Aey-Aar-Gee-Vee.

> thanks

Your welcome.

santosh wrote:
> Franz Hose wrote:
>
>> last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
>> another person and they were having some difficulties because of
>> different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
>> professional programmers pronounce these things?
>
> Frankly code is not read aloud very often.
>
>> 1. '\0'
>
> null char
>
>> 2. '\n', '\a', '\b', '\f', etc.
>
> newline, bell, backspace, form feed.

apostrophe backslash n apostrophe, etc.

I know that there are one-syllable names for all the ASCII special
characters for reading out loud:
"tick slide n tick" for '\n', etc.
See ASCII in the Jargon file:
<http://www.ccil.org/jargon/jargon_16.html#SEC23>.

>> 3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)
>
> null pointer constant, ASCII null.

null, and n-u-l (spelled out, since it is not a special C identifier,
although ASCII null is good, too)

>> 6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)
>
> y is assigned to x, x is equal to y.

x equal y, x equals y

>> 7. ++x, x++, x += n
>
> preincrement x, postincrement x, x plus equals n.

plus plus x, x plus plus, x plus equal n

>> 8. argc, argv
>
> Aey-Aar-Gee-Cee, Aey-Aar-Gee-Vee.

arg-cee, arg-vee


--
Thad

Franz Hose <franz_hose_1993AD@yahoo.dk> wrote:

> last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
> another person and they were having some difficulties because of
> different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
> professional programmers pronounce these things?

> 1. '\0'
> 2. '\n', '\a', '\b', '\f', etc.

back-zero, back-enn, back-ah etc.

> 3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)

What's nul ?

> 4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
> "character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"

I usually say 'car' but philological research supports the alternate
pronunciations 'tshar' and even 'shar'.
http://www.ioccc.org/1990/westley.c

> 5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)

As in French, but that's not a C question.

> 6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)

x equals y, x equals-to y ?

> 7. ++x, x++, x += n
> 8. argc, argv

I don't see the problem here. Plus-plus-x, x-plus-plus etc.
Arg-see, arg-vee.


--
pa at panix dot com

Franz Hose said:

>
> last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
> another person and they were having some difficulties because of
> different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
> professional programmers pronounce these things?

Ask two professional programmers a question like this, and you'll get at
least three completely different answers.

> 1. '\0'

When reading it "in passing" as part of a wider context, I'd pronounce this
as "null" (and rely on its being disambiguated by the context in which it
appears). When it appears on its own without a C context to disambiguate
it (as in "you forgot to put a '\0' on there"), I'd say "null terminating
character" or "null terminator".

> 2. '\n', '\a', '\b', '\f', etc.

I think santosh's answer is fine here - "newline", "bell", "backspace",
"form feed".

> 3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)

"null" for the first, and I don't bother to use the second at all.

> 4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
> "character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"

4b

> 5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)

Mo' teef (think of someone trying to slangise "more teeth"!)

> 6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)

x becomes y
x is equal to y

> 7. ++x, x++, x += n

plus plus x
x plus plus
x plus equals n (and yes, I realise this partly contradicts my answer to 6
above). One might strive for "x increases by n" in the interests of
consistency, but that isn't how *I* actually read it aloud. Others might,
of course.

> 8. argc, argv

argsee', argvee'

--
Richard Heathfield <http://www.cpax.org.uk>
Email: -http://www. +rjh@
Google users: <http://www.cpax.org.uk/prg/writings/googly.php>
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999

santosh <santosh.k83@gmail.com> writes:
> Franz Hose wrote:
>> last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
>> another person and they were having some difficulties because of
>> different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
>> professional programmers pronounce these things?
>
> Frankly code is not read aloud very often.

Agreed.

[...]

>> 3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)
>
> null pointer constant, ASCII null.

I wouldn't read NULL as "null pointer constant", since there are a
plethora of *other* null pointer constants.

>> 4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
>> "character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"
>
> I'll pick 4a

I use 4a, but I don't object to the other pronunciations.

[...]

>> 6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)
>
> y is assigned to x, x is equal to y.

I think of "x = y" as "x assign y".

>> 7. ++x, x++, x += n
>
> preincrement x, postincrement x, x plus equals n.

There's a difference between reading C and re-interpreting it. C isn't
designed to be a spoken language, but if I'm going to read it out
loud, I prefer to keep a one-to-one correspondence between the text
and what I say. So: "x plus plus", "plus plus x", "x plus equals n".

>> 8. argc, argv
>
> Aey-Aar-Gee-Cee, Aey-Aar-Gee-Vee.

"arg-cee", "arg-vee". I wouldn't pronounce each letter without a very
good reason.

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center <*> <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
"We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this."
-- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"

Franz Hose wrote:
>
> last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
> another person and they were having some difficulties because of
> different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
> professional programmers pronounce these things?

There is no standard on these, and I'm sure any anwers you get will
include a different combination from each person. However, as one
who would consider himself a "professional programm", I will list
what I use as my own personal preferences.

> 1. '\0'
>
> 2. '\n', '\a', '\b', '\f', etc.

The above depend on context. I might say "backslash n", or I might
say "newline", as an example.

> 3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)

I pronounce them both the same. Context tells you which one I
mean: "NULL-terminated list", "nul-terminated string".

> 4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
> "character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"

I use 4b.

> 5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)

"Moe TEEF".

> 6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)

Again, this is mostly from context, but typically I would
pronouce the above as "x equals y" and "x is equal to y".

For example:

x = y; --> "x equals y"

if ( x == y ) --> "if x equals y" (Or, if dictating, "if,
open-paren, x equals y, close-paren".)

> 7. ++x, x++, x += n

"plus plus x", "x plus plus", "x plus equals n".

> 8. argc, argv

"Arg SEE", "arg VEE". (Where "arg" is like "ark" with a "g".)

Or, on September 19, "AARRGH see" and "AARRGH vee".

--
+-------------------------+--------------------+-----------------------+
| Kenneth J. Brody | www.hvcomputer.com | #include |
| kenbrody/at\spamcop.net | www.fptech.com | <std_disclaimer.h> |
+-------------------------+--------------------+-----------------------+
Don't e-mail me at: <mailto:ThisIsASpamTrap@gmail.com>

On Oct 21, 6:43 pm, Franz Hose <franz_hose_199...@yahoo.dk> wrote:
> last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
> another person and they were having some difficulties because of
> different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
> professional programmers pronounce these things?
>
> 1. '\0'

"escape zero" aka "backslash zero" aka "null character" aka "end of
string"

> 2. '\n', '\a', '\b', '\f', etc.

"escape enn", "escape aey", "escape bee", etc
aka
"newline", "alert", "backspace", "formfeed", etc

> 3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)

"null"

> 4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
> "character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"

It depends. Mostly
"char" but sometimes "character"

> 5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)

Not a C term, but "Moe teef"


> 6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)

"x takes the value of y" vs "x is equal to y"

> 7. ++x, x++, x += n

"plusplus x", "x plusplus", "x plusassign n"
or
"preincrement x", "postincrement x", "x increment by n"


> 8. argc, argv

"arg see", "arg vee"

> thanks

On Oct 21, 5:43 pm, Franz Hose <franz_hose_199...@yahoo.dk> wrote:
> last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
> another person and they were having some difficulties because of
> different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
> professional programmers pronounce these things?
>
> 1. '\0'
>

Nul or zero terminator.

> 2. '\n', '\a', '\b', '\f', etc.
>

Newline, bell, backspace, formfeed, etc.

> 3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)
>

Context. One only applies to pointers, the other only to character
strings.

> 4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
> "character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"
>

I personally use 4a. None of them are "right", and I've heard all
three used pretty equally.

> 5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)
>

Mo-teef'.

> 6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)
>

x gets y, x is equal to y

> 7. ++x, x++, x += n
>

preincrement x, postincrement x, x plusequal n

> 8. argc, argv
>

arg-see, arg-vee

> thanks

On Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:43:56 +0200 (CEST), in comp.lang.c , Franz Hose
<franz_hose_1993AD@yahoo.dk> wrote:

>
>last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
>another person and they were having some difficulties because of
>different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
>professional programmers pronounce these things?
>
>1. '\0'

slash-zero.

>2. '\n', '\a', '\b', '\f', etc.

as per 1.

>3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)

null.

>4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
> "character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"

like its written!

>5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)

like its written

>6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)

let x equal y and x equals y

>7. ++x, x++, x += n

plusplus x etc.

>8. argc, argv

arg-see, arg-vee
--
Mark McIntyre

"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are,
by definition, not smart enough to debug it."
--Brian Kernighan

On Oct 22, 10:06 am, John Bode <john_b...@my-deja.com> wrote:
> On Oct 21, 5:43 pm, Franz Hose <franz_hose_199...@yahoo.dk> wrote:
[snip]
> > 5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)
>
> Mo-teef'.

Reminds me of teefcack ...
But perhaps, more of it.

On 21 Oct 2007 at 22:43, Franz Hose wrote:
>
> last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
> another person and they were having some difficulties because of
> different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
> professional programmers pronounce these things?
>
> 1. '\0'
>
> 2. '\n', '\a', '\b', '\f', etc.
>
> 3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)
>
> 4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
> "character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"
>
> 5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)
>
> 6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)
>
> 7. ++x, x++, x += n
>
> 8. argc, argv
>
>
> thanks
>

How about mutex?

On Oct 23, 6:58 pm, Jon <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
[snip]
> How about mutex?

"mew teks"

Groovy hepcat santosh was jivin' in comp.lang.c on Mon, 22 Oct 2007 8:53
am. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

> Franz Hose wrote:
>
>> last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
>> another person and they were having some difficulties because of
>> different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
>> professional programmers pronounce these things?

Here we go again!

>> 4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
>> "character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"

Hello, Mr. Dead Horse! This is Mr. Stick. Mr. Stick, meet Mr. Dead
Horse. What's that, Mr. Stick? You want me to hold you firmly at one
end while hurling your other end at great speed in the direction of Mr.
Dead Horse? Well, OK, if you say so, Mr. Stick.

> I'll pick 4a

Once and for all, it's pronounced teef-kak (from TFKAC - Type Formerly
Known As Char), as everyone knows (or should know).
Alternatively, you can pronounce it as I once proposed, as "crap",
because the letters in it are pronounced like so:

c - as in "crap"

h - as in "crap" (Yes, I know there's no h in "crap". But the h in
"char" is silent, so it's OK.)

a - as in "crap"

r - as in "crap"

>> 5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)

It *is* the French word (and has nothing to do with C). It is
pronounced (anglicised) mo-teef.

> As the dictionary pronounces it.

Which is as I have shown above. (At least, that's how my dictionary
has it.)

>> 6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)
>
> y is assigned to x, x is equal to y.

Internally (ie., in my head) I use "x equals y" and "x is equal to y"
respectively. (I know what each means.) But when talking to others
about C code (which I have never done, but I could in future), I use
"assign y to x" for the former.

>> 7. ++x, x++, x += n
>
> preincrement x, postincrement x, x plus equals n.

Agreed (in spite of the fact that these terms make no literal sense).

>> 8. argc, argv
>
> Aey-Aar-Gee-Cee, Aey-Aar-Gee-Vee.

I prefer arg-cee and arg-vee.

>> thanks
>
> Your welcome.

It's spelled "you're". Sorry! Didn't mean to be a spelling Nazi, but
so many people get their "your"s and "you're"s mixed up it was bugging
me. (I'll be the first to admit I'm no walking dictionary myself.)

--
Dig the sig!

----------- Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood ------------
Ain't I'm a dawg!!

Lew Pitcher said:

> On Oct 23, 6:58 pm, Jon <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
> [snip]
>> How about mutex?
>
> "mew teks"

Surely it should be "mew tek"?

<g,d&r>

--
Richard Heathfield <http://www.cpax.org.uk>
Email: -http://www. +rjh@
Google users: <http://www.cpax.org.uk/prg/writings/googly.php>
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999

In article <WLKdnVzl_4ut34LaRVnyggA@bt.com>,
Richard Heathfield <rjh@see.sig.invalid> wrote:

>>> How about mutex?

>> "mew teks"

>Surely it should be "mew tek"?

No excuse, now we have Unicode.

-- Richard
--
"Consideration shall be given to the need for as many as 32 characters
in some alphabets" - X3.4, 1963.

On Oct 24, 9:04 am, Richard Heathfield <r...@see.sig.invalid> wrote:
> Lew Pitcher said:
>
> > On Oct 23, 6:58 pm, Jon <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
> > [snip]
> >> How about mutex?
>
> > "mew teks"
>
> Surely it should be "mew tek"?
>
> <g,d&r>

Only if you speak greek, or use typesetting programs <grin>

IT depends is the answer...

Some (most in the UK? ) pronounce char as in tea :-) ie "ch"-"ar" as
inthe Indian word for tea. Others (less common in the UK) say char as
in car with no "h"

The you have # or "hash" in most of the world or "pound" in the US
Whereas £ is the symbol for "pound" (money) or "lb" the symbol for pound
wieght in the rest of the world.

Hence is it C-pound or C-hash for C# ?

As for Motif is going to depend on your accent as to what it sounds like



In article <2482166.dWV9SEqChM@aioe.org>, Franz Hose
<franz_hose_1993AD@yahoo.dk> writes
>
>last week in class I witnessed somebody reading a C program to
>another person and they were having some difficulties because of
>different pronunciation of some C language terms...so how do
>professional programmers pronounce these things?
>
>1. '\0'
>
>2. '\n', '\a', '\b', '\f', etc.
>
>3. NULL, nul (how to distinguish these two?)
>
>4. char (3 possible ways I've heard are 4a) like the 1st syllable in
> "character", 4b) like "char coal", and 4c) like "car"
>
>5. Motif (like "motive" or more like the French word?)
>
>6. x = y, x == y (how to distinguish these two?)
>
>7. ++x, x++, x += n
>
>8. argc, argv
>
>
>thanks
>

--
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/
/\/\/ chris@phaedsys.org www.phaedsys.org \/\/\
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Chris Hills <chris@phaedsys.org> wrote:

> Hence is it C-pound or C-hash for C# ?

No. It's Sheesh, or possibly C-flat.

Richard

On Oct 25, 5:41 am, Chris Hills <ch...@phaedsys.org> wrote:
> The you have # or "hash" in most of the world or "pound" in the US
> Whereas £ is the symbol for "pound" (money) or "lb" the symbol for pound
> wieght in the rest of the world.
>
> Hence is it C-pound or C-hash for C# ?

It's officially "C sharp." Of course, why someone would even use such
a symbol in the name of a language is beyond me.

In article <1193311347.677900.201470@k35g2000prh.googlegroups .com>,
Justin Spahr-Summers <Justin.SpahrSummers@gmail.com> writes
>On Oct 25, 5:41 am, Chris Hills <ch...@phaedsys.org> wrote:
>> The you have # or "hash" in most of the world or "pound" in the US
>> Whereas £ is the symbol for "pound" (money) or "lb" the symbol for pound
>> wieght in the rest of the world.
>>
>> Hence is it C-pound or C-hash for C# ?
>
>It's officially "C sharp."
I know
And unofficially C-flat :-)

>Of course, why someone would even use such
>a symbol in the name of a language is beyond me.

Ask The Artist Formally Known as Prince? :-)

Especially as the word "sharp" is not universally associated with the
hash/pound symbol.....

At least C++ was obvious to everyone. (Even if smalltalk and lisp are
not as most Engineers don't lisp and can to smalltalk :-)

Where we are going with "C++/CLI" I am not sure....


--
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/
/\/\/ chris@phaedsys.org www.phaedsys.org \/\/\
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

In article <4720766c.596734390@news.xs4all.nl>, Richard Bos
<rlb@hoekstra-uitgeverij.nl> writes
>Chris Hills <chris@phaedsys.org> wrote:
>
>> Hence is it C-pound or C-hash for C# ?
>
>No. It's Sheesh, or possibly C-flat.

I don't care... I'm in the embedded world where the likes of C#,
C+/CLI, .Net etc fortunately have no relevance.

All we need to do is get al the tools ported to a decent Unix and I can
retire the x86 systems I have here. (We have PowerPC, Sparc and x86)


--
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/
/\/\/ chris@phaedsys.org www.phaedsys.org \/\/\
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Chris Hills wrote:
> Some (most in the UK? ) pronounce char as in tea :-) ie "ch"-"ar" as
> inthe Indian word for tea. Others (less common in the UK) say char as
> in car with no "h"

There is no language called "Indian". That said, Urdu and Hindi, two
languages used in india, use the word "chai" for tea, not "char".

> The you have # or "hash" in most of the world or "pound" in the US
> Whereas £ is the symbol for "pound" (money) or "lb" the symbol for pound
> wieght in the rest of the world.
>
> Hence is it C-pound or C-hash for C# ?

C-octothorpe. Or D-flat.

> As for Motif is going to depend on your accent as to what it sounds like

Well everything depends on your accent doesn't it?

Philip Potter wrote:

> Chris Hills wrote:
>> Some (most in the UK? ) pronounce char as in tea :-) ie "ch"-"ar" as
>> inthe Indian word for tea. Others (less common in the UK) say char
>> as in car with no "h"
>
> There is no language called "Indian".

Chris didn't say that.

> That said, Urdu and Hindi, two
> languages used in india, use the word "chai" for tea, not "char".

He was comparing the similarity in pronunciation of "ch" in char
with "ch" in chai, as used by a segment of programmers.

<snip>

In article <ffq5qr$45j$1@registered.motzarella.org>, santosh
<santosh.k83@gmail.com> writes
>Philip Potter wrote:
>
>> Chris Hills wrote:
>>> Some (most in the UK? ) pronounce char as in tea :-) ie "ch"-"ar" as
>>> inthe Indian word for tea. Others (less common in the UK) say char
>>> as in car with no "h"
>>
>> There is no language called "Indian".
>
>Chris didn't say that.

That's what I though but in CLC people like to be pedantic and obtuse it
gives then a sense of superiority in place of a real life.

>> That said, Urdu and Hindi, two
>> languages used in india, use the word "chai" for tea, not "char".
>
>He was comparing the similarity in pronunciation of "ch" in char
>with "ch" in chai, as used by a segment of programmers.
><snip>

Yes. That is what I meant. As opposed to the few (from experience ) who
like to pronounce char as "car".

I have no idea which language would naturally pronounce char as "car"
making the h silent. Any suggestions?



--
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/
/\/\/ chris@phaedsys.org www.phaedsys.org \/\/\
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/