Re: Question on abbreviations (fwd)

At 06:54 PM 12/28/00 -0800, Matt May wrote:
>1) human error
>The script that I run replaces DOS with <acronym title="Disk Operating
>System>. (Note the missing close quote.)
>Result: every instance of "DOS" in my database is replaced with invalid
>markup. The entire database now contains corrupt HTML.

Human error is as likely to occur if the user is building the dictionary.
More likely! In the case of a large database, it is easy to fix such errors
with another search and replace function, but fixing errors across all
users' dictionaries would be impossible.

>2) false positives
>"...causing a distributed <acronym title="Disk Operating
>System">DOS</acronym> attack..."
>"...a list of <acronym title="Disk Operating System">DOS</acronym> AND
>DON'TS..."

This one I don't understand. Are you saying that if an acronym is linked to
it's definition at the bottom of the page or on a definitions page, it
sometimes will not work and there nothing can be done about it?

>3) unforeseen replaces
>Say a tool like this defines "IF" as "infielder". (Did I mention that
>acronymfinder.com has 20 acronyms for "IF"?) Replace "if" with "infielder"
>everywhere in a document, and you've basically destroyed every script known
>to man:
>Java/JavaScript/C/Perl:
><acronym title="infielder">if</acronym> (a != 4) {...}
>VBScript:
><acronym title="infielder">IF</acronym> MYVAR <> 4 THEN ...
>
>...and so on. Every script is broken. If I had a nickel for every time I've
>seen it happen...

This is a perfect example of why the acronym must be defined by the content
provider rather than the user. How is the user supposed to choose among the
20 acronyms for IF if they don't know what it means in the first place?

>4) impact on other systems
>When content is modified wholesale in a database, particularly on a large
>scale, every related system needs to be tested, and possibly updated: data
>entry apps will need to be modified to support defining terms as they're
>added; scripts to dump and load the data will need to be checked; client
>apps need to be tested as well.
>
>I'm sure there's more. This is just the stuff I've witnessed.

Matt, you make it sounds like the world of databases has been shuffling
along in need of direction for too long anyway. Remember Y2K?

						Anne



>----
>matt
>
>
Anne L. Pemberton
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Pav/Academy1
http://www.erols.com/stevepem/Homeschooling
apembert@crosslink.net
Enabling Support Foundation
http://www.enabling.org

Received on Friday, 29 December 2000 08:59:57 UTC