From: Conrad Schneiker <schneik@...>
Date: 2000-09-18T14:40:03+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:4981] Re: Ruby Book Eng. translation editor's questions

Hi,

"Brian F. Feldman" wrote:
> 
> > Hi,
> >
> > In message "[ruby-talk:4959] Re: Ruby Book Eng. translation editor's questions"
> >     on 00/09/17, Jon Babcock <jon@kanji.com> writes:
> >
> > |Or, perhaps I am wrong and English 'parenthesis' *can* include curly
> > |braces { } and square brackets [ ] and well as ( and ).
> >
> > Perl document (perlop.pod) uses the word `brackets' for all these.
> >
> > |Is any other kind of kakko 括弧, besides { }, used in this syntax in
> > |Ruby?
> >
> > Here's the list of corresponding BRACKETs.
> >
> >   round  ( )
> >   angle  < >
> >   square [ ]
> >   curly  { }
> >
> > Hope this helps.
> >
> >                                                       matz.
> 
> FWIW, we've gone through this for FreeBSD and the consensus was:
> 
>     parentheses ( )
>     brackets [ ]
>     braces { }
> 
> and < > are just less-than and greater-than signs.  This is the accepted
> English definition for each, but the terms you've listed seem to have become
> pretty common vernacular in the computer field.

< > are referred to (and indexed as) (left and right) angle brackets in
the semi-definitive "Programming Perl". However for (), [], and {}, the
terms parentheses, brackets, and braces are used. This combination is
the convention I (strongly) prefer, and I think this is likely the best
option or tradeoff for the majority of your prospective readers. In the
above notation, this is:

   parentheses    ( )
   brackets       [ ]
   angle brackets < >
   braces         { }

2 Python books (otherwise almost unused, thanks to the co-discovery of
Ruby) generically refer to brackets and braces too, but () are <> are
mentioned only as tuples and comparison operator.

FYI/FWIW, some < > as angle brackets references from the Oracle at
Google:

A hacker jargon dictionary entry:
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/angle-brackets.html

A library information system (?) entry:
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/orbis/staffhome/300_fields.html

Verity query language: http://www.anstat.com.au/topicpdf/qrylng-7.htm

The inner product notation of math:
http://www.mathpropress.com/notation/pages/page68.html

.... and of course, lots of construction industry references.

-- 
Conrad Schneiker
(This note is unofficial and subject to improvement without notice.)