[SOLVED] help resolve the "discussion" of coders naming of the "-" character

atjurhs · 10-23-2017, 02:53 PM

hey guys,

we have a little "discussion" among coder types for the proper name of the "-" character, the character between the 0 and the = keys.

not in an English language context, not in a military context, but in a pure coding context what is the name of the "-"

a few possibilities: "dash" or "hyphen" others?

scasey · 10-23-2017, 03:05 PM

Usually "dash"

rknichols · 10-23-2017, 03:06 PM

Every programmer I have worked with has called it, "minus".

atjurhs · 10-23-2017, 03:10 PM

so not in a math context, which i agree would be "minus" but in a coding context, like how the professor would reference that character in computer programming 101

Shadow_7 · 10-23-2017, 03:20 PM

dash, hyphen, tac (sp?) (on some podcasts anyway), minus, and probably others.

suicidaleggroll · 10-23-2017, 03:21 PM

When talking about command line arguments, eg "ls -a", it's always been "dash" for me.

Shadow_7 · 10-23-2017, 03:25 PM

Although if you're a programmer you're more likely to call it:

45 \055 %2D 0x2D 00101011

Which is it's ascii value in decimal, octal, html, hex, binary, ... ... ... And if you're a mainframe programmer you probably know it's ebcdic designation (0x60 / 96).

astrogeek · 10-23-2017, 04:13 PM

I doubt there is a single universal term.

I would suggest that you decide among members of your discussion group the definitive term for use within the group. You cannot decide for others outside the group.

RockDoctor · 10-23-2017, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atjurhs

so not in a math context, which i agree would be "minus" but in a coding context, like how the professor would reference that character in computer programming 101

Having been a professor who taught courses one might call Computer Programming 101 (we called ours 103; not sure why), I always called it the minus sign. After all, it is adjacent to the plus sign.

Keith Hedger · 10-23-2017, 05:59 PM

In the great scheme of things does really matter? If I say "dash", "hyphen" or "minus" you know what I'm refering to, and the context of the sentence should tell you if I'm using the term as a math term or somthing else.

allend · 10-23-2017, 06:16 PM

The different names provide context about the use of the symbol.
a = b - c is a subtraction, so "minus".
version="0.1-alpha" is a string. so "dash".
line1="This is a long line that needs hyphenat-"
line2="ing to avoid truncation.", so "hyphen".
The symbol is often used as an empty value indicator in tables
value[1]=1
value[2]="-"
value[3]=3

GentleThotSeaMonkey · 10-23-2017, 06:26 PM

- can be stdin, pronounced: standard input

silent maybe in 4-Apr-2018 or linux 4.14-rc6

http://punctuationmatters.com/the-di...d-a-minus-sign
https://jakubmarian.com/hyphen-minus...age-in-english

ondoho · 10-24-2017, 01:55 AM

Quote:

If I say "dash", "hyphen" or "minus" you know what I'm refering to

not necessarily. those can be different characters on a computer.
if you want to make absolutely sure, in a verbal conversation, you should say 'minus'. i do.

aragorn2101 · 10-24-2017, 03:35 AM

I always say "minus", especially when describing arguments to shell commands, e.g. "minus minus version". I often have to explain Linux commands to people and I found that they understand the "minus" instantly whereas when I say "dash" or "hyphen" they often confuse it with some other character.

atjurhs · 10-26-2017, 11:15 AM

thanks for all your thoughts

close -now