libata: end the r-word
PATCH 1/1 libata: end the r-word
We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded comments.
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Hi Tejun,
Today is "Spread the Word to End the Word" day, so I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how often the r-word is used in kernel code comments. Suprisingly, to me at least, it's rare. In fact it seems only libata uses it in code commentary.
Please consider applying this patch to call slow-to-reset devices outliers.
Regards,
Dan
drivers/ata/libata-eh.c | 5 +++-- 1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
drivers/ata/libata-eh.c +3 -2
@@ -95,12 +95,13 @@ enum {* represents timeout for that try. The first try can be soft or * hardreset. All others are hardreset if available. In most cases * the first reset w/ 10sec timeout should succeed. Following entries -* are mostly for error handling, hotplug and retarded devices. +* are mostly for error handling, hotplug and those outlier devices that +* take an exceptionally long time to recover from reset. */ static const unsigned long ata_eh_reset_timeouts[] = {10000 ,/* most drives spin up by 10sec */ 10000 ,/* > 99% working drives spin up before 20sec */ -35000 ,/* give > 30 secs of idleness for retarded devices */ +35000 ,/* give > 30 secs of idleness for outlier devices */ 5000 ,/* and sweet one last chance */ ULONG_MAX ,/* > 1 min has elapsed, give up */ };
Hello, Dan.
Quoted 9 lines · Dan Williams
We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded comments.
Signed-off-by Dan Williams <[email protected]>---
Hi Tejun,
Quoted 7 lines
Today is "Spread the Word to End the Word" day, so I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how often the r-word is used in kernel code comments. Suprisingly, to me at least, it's rare. In fact it seems only libata uses it in code commentary.
Please consider applying this patch to call slow-to-reset devices outliers.
I lack the cultural context to evaluate whether this is necessary. That said, there's no reason to cling onto it when an active contributor cares enough to submit a patch about it. Can you please make the patch description a bit drier tho?
Thanks.
Signature · 1 line
tejun
Quoted 17 lines · Tejun Heo
Hello, Dan.
Quoted 14 lines · Dan Williams
We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded comments.
Signed-off-by Dan Williams <[email protected]>---
Hi Tejun,Today is "Spread the Word to End the Word" day, so I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how often the r-word is used in kernel code comments. Suprisingly, to me at least, it's rare. In fact it seems only libata uses it in code commentary.
Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 2 lines
Please consider applying this patch to call slow-to-reset devices outliers.
I lack the cultural context to evaluate whether this is necessary. That said, there's no reason to cling onto it when an active contributor cares enough to submit a patch about it. Can you please make the patch description a bit drier tho?
Sure thing. Thanks Tejun, I really appreciate it.
8<----------------
Quoted 1 line
From
f1c564c4bcf1d636ff020faf4f3e644cf1c3d152Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dan Williams <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2014 19:25:02 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] libata: end the r-word
Prompted by the social effort in the US to discourage usage of the adjective "retarded".
In this case we needlessly anthropomorphize hard drives. The implication is that due to design deficiencies in the device reset recovery time is negatively impacted. We can simply clearly state that fact. "Exceptional devices cause outliers in reset recovery time." This steers clear of any unintended comparison of such devices to humans with cognitive disabilities.
--- drivers/ata/libata-eh.c | 5 +++-- 1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
drivers/ata/libata-eh.c +3 -2
@@ -95,12 +95,13 @@ enum {* represents timeout for that try. The first try can be soft or * hardreset. All others are hardreset if available. In most cases * the first reset w/ 10sec timeout should succeed. Following entries -* are mostly for error handling, hotplug and retarded devices. +* are mostly for error handling, hotplug and those outlier devices that +* take an exceptionally long time to recover from reset. */ static const unsigned long ata_eh_reset_timeouts[] = {10000 ,/* most drives spin up by 10sec */ 10000 ,/* > 99% working drives spin up before 20sec */ -35000 ,/* give > 30 secs of idleness for retarded devices */ +35000 ,/* give > 30 secs of idleness for outlier devices */ 5000 ,/* and sweet one last chance */ ULONG_MAX ,/* > 1 min has elapsed, give up */ };
Signature · 1 line
1.7.7.6
Tejun Heo
AppliedQuoted 8 lines · Dan Williams
From
f1c564c4bcf1d636ff020faf4f3e644cf1c3d152Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dan Williams <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2014 19:25:02 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] libata: end the r-wordPrompted by the social effort in the US to discourage usage of the adjective "retarded".
Quoted 8 lines
In this case we needlessly anthropomorphize hard drives. The implication is that due to design deficiencies in the device reset recovery time is negatively impacted. We can simply clearly state that fact. "Exceptional devices cause outliers in reset recovery time." This steers clear of any unintended comparison of such devices to humans with cognitive disabilities.
Signed-off-by Dan Williams <[email protected]>
Applied to libata/for-3.15.
Thanks.
Signature · 1 line
tejun
Quoted 4 lines · On Wed, 05 Mar 2014 19:33:04 -0800 Dan Williams <[email protected]>…
We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded comments.
The comment appears to be very accurately worded in this case. To retard is to slow down. We allow 30 seconds of idleness for very slow devices.
Now I can see why you might want to remove the word in some other context such as if we had /* Linus is such a retard */ but this context appears to be correct, and in fact a rather clever bit of wordplay (intended or otherwise)
Alan
Quoted 10 lines · One Thousand Gnomes
Quoted 4 lines · On Wed, 05 Mar 2014 19:33:04 -0800 Dan Williams <[email protected]>…
We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded comments.
The comment appears to be very accurately worded in this case. To retard is to slow down. We allow 30 seconds of idleness for very slow devices.
Right, as a verb, if the comment had said "some devices retard the reset recovery process" that would be pedantic word choice but more in line with a specific technical meaning of the word.
Quoted 4 lines
Now I can see why you might want to remove the word in some other context such as if we had /* Linus is such a retard */ but this context appears to be correct, and in fact a rather clever bit of wordplay (intended or otherwise)
Actually, no, int this case I'm specifically concerned with adjective usage "retarded devices". Where the implication is there is something wrong with the device. Unfortunately in the US it has become a slur and slang term to classify the "worst of things". I suspect that usage has not made it to the UK?
Quoted 21 lines · Dan Williams
Quoted 9 lines · One Thousand Gnomes
Quoted 4 lines · On Wed, 05 Mar 2014 19:33:04 -0800 Dan Williams <[email protected]>…
We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded comments.
The comment appears to be very accurately worded in this case. To retard is to slow down. We allow 30 seconds of idleness for very slow devices.
Right, as a verb, if the comment had said "some devices retard the reset recovery process" that would be pedantic word choice but more in line with a specific technical meaning of the word.
Quoted 4 lines
Now I can see why you might want to remove the word in some other context such as if we had /* Linus is such a retard */ but this context appears to be correct, and in fact a rather clever bit of wordplay (intended or otherwise)
Quoted 5 lines
Actually, no, int this case I'm specifically concerned with adjective usage "retarded devices". Where the implication is there is something wrong with the device. Unfortunately in the US it has become a slur and slang term to classify the "worst of things". I suspect that usage has not made it to the UK?
I think what hasn't made it to the UK is an undue emphasis on political correctness. 'Retarded' at least implies slowness whereas 'outlier' is a meaningless noise word. Furthermore, it's actually a noun rather than an adjective, so the proposed change makes the comment ungrammatical. The word you're looking for is 'outlying' though I would prefer a meaningful description such as 'extremely slow devices' if obsequiousness to political correctness is deemed necessary.
Quoted 22 lines · Dave Howorth
Quoted 21 lines · Dan Williams
Quoted 9 lines · One Thousand Gnomes
Quoted 4 lines · On Wed, 05 Mar 2014 19:33:04 -0800 Dan Williams <[email protected]>…
We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded comments.
The comment appears to be very accurately worded in this case. To retard is to slow down. We allow 30 seconds of idleness for very slow devices.
Right, as a verb, if the comment had said "some devices retard the reset recovery process" that would be pedantic word choice but more in line with a specific technical meaning of the word.
Quoted 4 lines
Now I can see why you might want to remove the word in some other context such as if we had /* Linus is such a retard */ but this context appears to be correct, and in fact a rather clever bit of wordplay (intended or otherwise)
Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines
Actually, no, int this case I'm specifically concerned with adjective usage "retarded devices". Where the implication is there is something wrong with the device. Unfortunately in the US it has become a slur and slang term to classify the "worst of things". I suspect that usage has not made it to the UK?
I think what hasn't made it to the UK is an undue emphasis on political correctness. 'Retarded' at least implies slowness
...among other things.
Quoted 1 line
whereas 'outlier' is a meaningless noise word.
"An outlier is an observation point that is distant from other observations", and the comments clarify that the specific observation in this case is prolonged recovery time. Rhetorical question, are "slow" devices fast in other areas? The comments are now constrained to the attribute of recovery latency relative to other devices.
Quoted 2 lines
Furthermore, it's actually a noun rather than an adjective, so the proposed change makes the comment ungrammatical.
See "attributive noun".
Quoted 3 lines
The word you're looking for is 'outlying' though I would prefer a meaningful description such as 'extremely slow devices' if obsequiousness to political correctness is deemed necessary.
No, it isn't, but thank you for compliment. I have no problem being deferential to people deserving of empathy.
Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines
Actually, no, int this case I'm specifically concerned with adjective usage "retarded devices". Where the implication is there is something wrong with the device. Unfortunately in the US it has become a slur and slang term to classify the "worst of things". I suspect that usage has not made it to the UK?
I think what hasn't made it to the UK is an undue emphasis on political correctness.
And also that in British English we simply reclaimed the word rather than giving it away to those who misused it. Trying to use it as an insult just makes someone in the UK sound like they've been watching too much 1970-80s television.
The only error I can see is the fact that the device is doing the retarding.
Alan
Quoted 6 lines · One Thousand Gnomes
Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 5 lines
Actually, no, int this case I'm specifically concerned with adjective usage "retarded devices". Where the implication is there is something wrong with the device. Unfortunately in the US it has become a slur and slang term to classify the "worst of things". I suspect that usage has not made it to the UK?
Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 2 lines
I think what hasn't made it to the UK is an undue emphasis on political correctness.
And also that in British English we simply reclaimed the word rather than giving it away to those who misused it. Trying to use it as an insult just makes someone in the UK sound like they've been watching too much 1970-80s television.
:-)
Here's hoping it meets a similar fate in the US.