Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Sometimes a discursion—a discussion that is not part of the main thread of
argument—is needed to motivate a definition. The discursion might consider neg-
ative examples, showing what happens in the absence of the definition, or it might
lead the reader by steps to agree that the definition is necessary.
Choice of Words
Use short, direct words rather than long, circumlocutionary ones; the result is vig-
orous, emphatic writing. For example, use “begin” rather than “initiate”, “first” and
“second” rather than “firstly” and “secondly”, “part” rather than “component”, and
“use” rather than “utilize”. Use short words in preference to long, but use an exact
long word rather than an approximate short one.
The words you choose should be specific and familiar. Abstract, vague, or broad
terms have different meanings for different readers and can lead to confusion.
The analysis derives information about software.
The “information” could be anything: optimizations, function-point descriptions,
bug reports, or asymptotic cost.
The analysis estimates the resource costs of software.
Other abstract terms that are overused include “important”, “intelligent”,
“method”, “paradigm”, “performance”, and “semantic”. “Difficult” is often used
when a better term is available: if something is “difficult to compute”, does that
mean that it is slow, or memory-hungry, or requires double precision, or something
else altogether? “Hard” is sometimes used poorly too, including cases when “diffi-
cult” would be a better choice; remember that “hard” also means
inflexible
or
rigid
and can be misunderstood. “Efficient” is another word that is often vague. Use the
most precise term available.
A common reason for using vague terms is that some authors feel they are writing
badly if they use the same word twice in a sentence or paragraph, and thus substitute
a synonym, which is usually less specific.
The database executes on a remote machine to provide better security
for the system and insulation from network difficulties.
The database executes on a remote machine to provide better security
for the database and insulation from network difficulties.
The “don't repeat words” rule might apply to creative writing, but not to technical
terms that must be clearly understood.
Some sequences of words are awkward because they can be run together to form
another, valid word.
