Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!kuhub.cc.ukans.edu!kinnersley
From: kinnersley@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Bill Kinnersley)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Capitalization & programming language names
Message-ID: <27840.278ec52e@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
Date: 12 Jan 91 14:13:34 GMT
References: <3561@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU> <14834@goofy.megatest.UUCP> <1991Jan11.203246.12599@nixtdc.uucp>
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services
Lines: 26

In article <1991Jan11.203246.12599@nixtdc.uucp>, doug@nixtdc.uucp (Doug Moen) writes:
: 
: The names of languages (eg, English, Fortran, Basic) are proper names,
: and thus should be given an initial capital.  
:
BASIC is an acronym, FORTRAN ("FORmula TRANslator") is an abbreviation,
FORTH is a pun, but they're all capitalized.  The rule if there is one
is that the guys who invent the name also invent the spelling.  

For example Inmos (oops I mean INMOS) insists that its language occam 
should be written *all* lower case.

:
: If the name is an acronym that is pronounced by sounding out each letter, 
: then you should use all caps
:

The spelling shouldn't change just because somebody comes up with a
pronunciation.  Do you write Ascii and Scsi?

What drives me crazy is the librarian who not only insists on calling it
PASCAL, but even files it in the catalog as if it were an acronym, ahead
of all the other "pa" entries!

-- 
--Bill Kinnersley