xml-dev - Re: Id vs. ID in SAX

[jmbolles@ThoughtWorks.com]

Forgive the shortcut language. How about:

The difference is Id is example of general abbreviation, where as URL
represents a special case of abbreviations known as acronyms.

To me, and I'm neither Strunk nor White (nor Berners-Lee), the rule has
been if the acronym is pronounced as initials, capitalize all of the
letters; if pronounced as a word, capitalize based on regular grammatical
rules. There is obviously a grey area in cases such as 'URL', where it is
migrating from the former to the latter.

Since 'id' is not an acronym (not representing a compound term), it doesn't
follow the same rules. I don't capitalize 'sub' unless I would capitalize
'submarine'.

And while I have pronounced 'id' as a word meaning the psychological term,
I've never pronounced 'id'  as a word meaning identification. (If I did, I
think I would pronounce it as 'ide', as in 'Ides of March'.)

With such a large grey area due to natural language progression, I don't
think there is a hard and fast rule. So he who codes it decides. In this
case, I think David got it right, but I wouldn't find it worth arguing
about if it went the other way.

Jack




0> jmbolles wrote:

jmbolles> The difference is Id is an abbreviation, where as URL is an
jmbolles> acronym.

1. Acronyms are by definition initialisms, therefore abbreviations.

2. It's debatable whether ID is an initialism, as it's more than the
   first letter of IDentifier.

3. Both ID and URL are pronounced as initials and as words, often by
   the same people (I know I'm not consistent in my everyday speech).

--




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