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

[The Wanderer]

Panagiotis Issaris wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> The Wanderer schreef:
> 
>> [...]
>> 
>> ...and "Ki" represents "kibi", which like the rest of its ilk is an
>> ugly abomination,
> 
> Why? Because you dislike the sound of it?

Because it's attempting to say "no, you can't use the terminology which
has been established as standard, you have to use this instead or people
will be confused". There's a brief comment in my other post on a
possible alternative.

Or, if you prefer: Because I Say So. (This is an assertion of opinion,
after all...)

>> not to be used on pain of ME HATES YOU FOREVER.

(...as this ought to have made clear.)

>> (Maybe it can occasionally be grudgingly allowed for in cases where
>>  ambiguity is not acceptable - of which this might be one - but it
>> can never be more than an inappropriate workaround, at best, and
>> must never be absolutely required. Redefining existing terms such
>> as "kilo", which had long been able to mean either "1000" or "1024"
>> depending among other
> 
> Long? How long? AFAIK kilo meaning "1000" has been in use for a
> _much_ longer time than kilo meaning "1024". And, furthermore, the
> only scientific field where k has ever had the meaning of 1024 is
> computer science. So, I consider it _wrong_ usage.

I never claimed that "kilo" == "1000" had not also been around for a
long time, or even that it had not been around for a significantly
longer time. All I claimed (implicitly) was that "kilo" == "1024" had
been around *long enough* to have become established, such that
attempting to force it out is Really Really Bad Form at best.

>> things on context, to cover only a subset of their previous
>> meanings is well beyond the authority of whatever group it was
>> which actually invented the new terms. This has been a very
>> abbreviated rant.)
> 
> On the contrary: To give an existing and much used prefix an
> additional meaning (superset of meanings) was beyong the authority of
> whatever group that actually did this.

Ah, but I don't think it was consciously done by any group; I believe it
was done "in passing< by simply using the term that way because it was
close enough, and became a de-facto standard usage thereby. Nobody
arrogated to themselves the authority to redefine the existing term.

The invention of "kibi" and so forth, by contrast, *was* done by a
specific group, though I forget offhand which one and I've got little
enough time before class that I'm not going to look it up. That group
are thus attempting to claim authority which they do not - and, perhaps,
which any "they" fundamentally *can* not - have.

-- 
       The Wanderer

Warning: Simply because I argue an issue does not mean I agree with any
side of it.

Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.