Re: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions?

Subject: Re: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions?
From: "Monique Semp" <monique -dot- semp -at- earthlink -dot- net>
To: "TechWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2016 13:39:43 -0800

Personally, I like "indicates whether..."

Well, I feel sort of like I'm parsing whether "is means is" (or was it, "it means it"?), but I actually prefer "determines whether" because the functions generally have to do a bunch of evaluation steps, not simply look a a bit-flag or variable. And so the real work of the function is more "determine" than "indicate".

And tying into someone else's comment (might have been on this list or the other list to which I posted this question), the general use case is that an application determines what to do next based on the result of a call to one of these functions.

So a "determines whether" description really leads people down the correct path of function calls.

(If the function in question contained logic that branched depending on the result, then using phrasing such as "specifies whether" or "indicates whether" *would* be more appropriate.)

Thanks, everyone!

I knew that a bunch of tech writers would parse the nuances :-).

-Monique
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives


References:
"test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?: From: Monique Semp
Re: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?: From: Robert Lauriston
Re: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?: From: Monique Semp
RE: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?: From: Rebecca Officer

Previous by Author: Re: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?
Next by Author: Re: drawing program that can import SVG generated by Railroad DiagramGenerator?
Previous by Thread: RE: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?
Next by Thread: Re: "test if" vs. "determine whether" - for API function descriptions ?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads