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Comments by a developer inside the Windows Media Player source code

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Re: Comments by a developer inside the Windows Media Player source code

#31

Post by grumple »

leephillips wrote: post #26
EasyTiger_ wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have never come across the word before either. Makes you think - did the person say the word to convey some kind of meaning? Or to sound super-smart to their peers?

It could just be that the developer’s native language happens to be English, reads books, and he/she used a familiar word without thinking twice about it. Because this is, in fact, a fairly common word.

I’ve read at least several hundred books in English, and probably hundreds of thousands of news stories and blog posts, and don’t recall encountering it before. It seems to appear mostly in searches for its definition and gre prep...

Re: Comments by a developer inside the Windows Media Player source code

#32

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

sn_master wrote: post #12
chris_wot wrote: post #10

This is why I love open source. In LibreOffice, cruft like this is often removed due to the embarrassment factor.

It was removed from Microsoft code too. This is an old snapshot of the code, almost two decades old. Since the 2002 TWC initiative, anything from easter eggs to things like that are all very strongly banned, and actively get removed as they're discovered.

What is TWC?

Re: Comments by a developer inside the Windows Media Player source code

#33

Post by [deleted] »

jackewiehose wrote: post #18
Waterluvian wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But key events should be on key-down Why? I like how keyup is less ambiguous: it avoids the question “what do I do if the user is holding the key down?” I also like being able to hold the key down to cue up a command and then at the right time, pull my hand away to execute crisply. For video editing mainly. I’m not saying keyup is the only answer. Just that there isn’t one obvious answer.

> Why? Because of the reported bug in this example (which I also encountered quite often): - user hits ESCAPE - my window gets key-down/ESCAPE and closes itself - your window (which happens to be the next in the focus-order) gets key-up/ESCAPE and closes itself > I also like being able to hold the key down to cue up a command and then at the right time, pull my hand away to execute crisply Ok, but if your window want…

[deleted]

Re: Comments by a developer inside the Windows Media Player source code

#34

Post by efreak »

dmurray wrote: post #28
cortesoft wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if the OS only sent key-up events to a window if it also received the corresponding key-down event?

Then you'd lose useful functionality like dragging a file from your file manager to an application window to open it there.

That's your mouse button, not a keyboard key. Although modifier keys occasionally are used, what's important here is the state of those keys (ctrl for copy, shift/alt or whatever for shortcut); nothing happens when you release them.

Re: Comments by a developer inside the Windows Media Player source code

#35

Post by EE84M3i »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #32
sn_master wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was removed from Microsoft code too. This is an old snapshot of the code, almost two decades old. Since the 2002 TWC initiative, anything from easter eggs to things like that are all very strongly banned, and actively get removed as they're discovered.

What is TWC?

TrustWorthy Computing.

In this context it refers to the early 2000s memo/paradigm shift at Microsoft as well as the now-defunct centralized infosec group.

Re: Comments by a developer inside the Windows Media Player source code

#36

Post by leephillips »

grumple wrote: post #31
leephillips wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could just be that the developer’s native language happens to be English, reads books, and he/she used a familiar word without thinking twice about it. Because this is, in fact, a fairly common word.

I’ve read at least several hundred books in English, and probably hundreds of thousands of news stories and blog posts, and don’t recall encountering it before. It seems to appear mostly in searches for its definition and gre prep...

Try, say, Google ngram. Would you say that, for example, “disharmonious” is a rare word? Graph them together. Pulchritude is not even moderately rare.

Re: Comments by a developer inside the Windows Media Player source code

#37

Post by netsharc »

sn_master wrote: post #12
chris_wot wrote: post #10

This is why I love open source. In LibreOffice, cruft like this is often removed due to the embarrassment factor.

It was removed from Microsoft code too. This is an old snapshot of the code, almost two decades old. Since the 2002 TWC initiative, anything from easter eggs to things like that are all very strongly banned, and actively get removed as they're discovered.

Afaik easter eggs got banned because MS wanted to gain certification for government/military use, and in order to get that, all functions/features must be documented and previously specified..

But a bit of googling shows it was part of TWC: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/larryosterman...

Re: Comments by a developer inside the Windows Media Player source code

#38

Post by grumple »

leephillips wrote: post #36
grumple wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve read at least several hundred books in English, and probably hundreds of thousands of news stories and blog posts, and don’t recall encountering it before. It seems to appear mostly in searches for its definition and gre prep...

Try, say, Google ngram. Would you say that, for example, “disharmonious” is a rare word? Graph them together. Pulchritude is not even moderately rare.

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here; pulchritude twice as rare as disharmonious, which is relatively rare. It’s an order of magnitude rarer than effervescent, as an example, which is a word I would consider uncommon but in most people’s vocabularies. And given how much more common pulchritude is - surely physical beauty is one of the most common subjects in any language - while disharmony and effervescence are more complex and rarer in practice, I think it speaks to how little the word is used. Its synonym, beauty, is used 2000x as often.

Re: Comments by a developer inside the Windows Media Player source code

#39

Post by bredren »

iokevins wrote: post #25
EasyTiger_ wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have never come across the word before either. Makes you think - did the person say the word to convey some kind of meaning? Or to sound super-smart to their peers?

Alliteration. They wrote "paragon of pulchritude", which to me sounds like smart, dry humor. It works.

Yes, I’d also guess the dev was not a Latin scholar and that this assembly required a thesaurus.

Re: Comments by a developer inside the Windows Media Player source code

#40

Post by leephillips »

grumple wrote: post #38
leephillips wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try, say, Google ngram. Would you say that, for example, “disharmonious” is a rare word? Graph them together. Pulchritude is not even moderately rare.

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here; pulchritude twice as rare as disharmonious, which is relatively rare. It’s an order of magnitude rarer than effervescent, as an example, which is a word I would consider uncommon but in most people’s vocabularies. And given how much more common pulchritude is - surely physical beauty is one of the most common subjects in any language - while disharmony and effervescence ar…

Except that pulchritude beats disharmonious for over a hundred years. And even now, it’s half as common as disharmonious, which is a commonplace word. But if you think that a word like “disharmonious” is in any sense rare, then I don’t think I can convince you with data.
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