[Ffmpeg-devel] [PATCH] Print KB for 1024 bytes

[Måns Rullgård]

Panagiotis Issaris said:
> Hi,
>
> M?ns Rullg?rd schreef:
>> The Wanderer said:
>>> Ian Caulfield wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 15/02/07, Michel Bardiaux <mbardiaux at mediaxim.be> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Panagiotis Issaris wrote:
>>>>>> M?ns Rullg?rd schreef:
>>>>>>> Michel Bardiaux said:
>>>>>>>> For consistency with command line options
>>>>>>> Rejected.  The standard abbreviation for kilo is a lowercase k.
>>>>> For kilo-1000 or kilo-1024? Currently, in the *same* message, k in
>>>>> kB means 1024 and k in kbits/sec means 1000. They cant both be
>>>>> right!
>>
>> They ARE both right.  That is the historical use of kilo when talking
>> about bytes and bitstreams.  When specifying the size of RAM chips,
>> kilo of course means 1024.  It's all in the context.
> I do not think that the meaning of units should be context dependent.

They are.  Just accept it.

> Especially not when the context is so closely related.

Close?  They're miles apart.

>>>> Wikipedia recommends 'k' for 1000, and 'Ki' for 1024
>>>> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilobyte)
>>
>> Wikipedia is hardly an authority in any matter whatsoever.
>>
>>> ...and "Ki" represents "kibi", which like the rest of its ilk is an ugly
>>> abomination, not to be used on pain of ME HATES YOU FOREVER.
>>
>> I agree, and I will personally revert any commits introducing this madness into
>> ffmpeg.
> IMHO the "madness" lies with those who thought 1024 was "close enough"
> to 1000 to reuse the 'k' prefix for it.
>
> And for the end-user, the "madness" lies in the fact that he sees "kB"
> but can't be sure if it means 1000 or 1024, because he doesn't know the
> context in which to use either. A bit as with harddrive sizes.

We're not required to cater for the requirements of arbitrarily stupid
users.  If users *really* need to know, they can check the source code.

-- 
M?ns Rullg?rd
mans at mansr.com