[FFmpeg-cvslog] r21073 - trunk/libavfilter/avfilter.h

[Diego Biurrun]

On Thu, Jan 07, 2010 at 09:17:13PM -0500, Vitor Sessak wrote:
> Diego Biurrun wrote:
>> On Fri, Jan 08, 2010 at 12:02:11AM +0100, Stefano Sabatini wrote:
>>> On date Thursday 2010-01-07 23:57:33 +0100, Diego Biurrun wrote:
>>>> On Thu, Jan 07, 2010 at 11:44:33PM +0100, stefano wrote:
>>>>> Log:
>>>>> Fix doxy, use third person.
>>>> I made up my mind, I hate it.
>>> That was discussed long time ago, and we decided to comply with
>>> JavaDoc recommendations.
>>
>> I faintly remember something, but I never liked it in the first place.
>>
>> I just compared POSIX docs and looked at a few random man pages.  The
>> former is completely written in nonpersonal form, the latter mostly.
>>
>>> That said, if you want to convert each doxy
>>> to impersonal form I won't object - my only request is to keep it
>>> consistent - but that would be higly wasted time I think.
>>
>> We have more doxy in non-third-person form than the other way around.
>> So the wasted time is being spent on making things less consistent
>> right now.  But let's leave this aside for now.
>>
>> I've just asked around on IRC, a majority of native speakers agrees
>> with me.
>>
>> There's also the grammar issue: Third person singular creates a lot
>> of mistakes, especially from non-native writers.  Let's avoid them.
>
> I don't know if this is the idea, but I'm against adding another  
> review-enforced style guideline. For newcomers, having to pass a few  
> review cycles to _just to get the style right_ might be a bit  
> frustrating besides looking unwelcoming.

So far, we have only had to point people towards using third person,
so this would actually make reviews easier to pass.

> Also, while I understand the need of having a consistent style in  
> general, I personally do not notice such kind of verb form inconsistency  
> (maybe just because I'm not a native speaker) and hence it does not make  
> the code looks less profession to me.

That's because you have likely never seen third person in other places.

Diego