I suspect that ask and answer both starting with the letter A is no accident due to their similar usage. Prompt for... might be better.
Prompt [for] choice with "this" or "that" or "the other" Prompt [for] input with "Please type your birth date." ~Roger On Aug 3, 2013 5:59 PM, "Jacques Hausser" <jacques.haus...@unil.ch> wrote: > It's perhaps not a brand new topic, but I floundered again, being confused > with "ask" and "answer" commands, so I let off some stream. > I was always bothered - and I'm not the only one - by the semantic of > these commands. In both cases, the script asks a question, and the user has > to answer. But the "answer" command is viewed as an order to the user, when > the ask command is viewed as a demand from the application. Two points of > view for two commands which in fact have very similar meanings. It seems > logical that these commands should be either described from the > application's side or from the user's side, and not the actual mixture of > both. > It would be (semantically) straightforward to change the meanings of the > extand commands, but a nightmare to re-actualize old code. So, synonymizing > (english?) only one of them, solutions could be: > > 1) if you prefer the point of view of the application: > > "answer" could be replaced by "request"-- for a demand needing a yes-or-no > answer > "ask" -- no change; for a demand requesting a more detailed answer, e.g. > your birthday… > > 2) if you prefer the point of view of the user > > "answer" -- no change; for a yes-or-no answer > "ask" could be replaced by "reply" -- with something more detailed. > > I'm sure that most of you, native English speakers, could find better > solutions…I'm looking forward for them ! > > Jacques > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > use-livecode mailing list > use-livecode@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your > subscription preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode > _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
