Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!lethe!yunexus!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!olivea!tymix!cirrusl!sunstorm!dhesi From: dhesi%cirrusl@oliveb.ATC.olivetti.com (Rahul Dhesi) Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: Capitalization & programming language names Message-ID: <2904@cirrusl.UUCP> Date: 18 Jan 91 22:15:41 GMT References: <3561@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU> <14834@goofy.megatest.UUCP> <1991Jan11.203246.12599@nixtdc.uucp> Sender: news@cirrusl.UUCP Organization: Cirrus Logic Inc. Lines: 19 In <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. If the name is an acronym >that is pronounced by sounding out each letter, then you should use all caps >(eg, IBM, APL, JCL). This is an excellent rule-of-thumb that I usually use. If it's treated as a word and somewhat phonetically pronounced, then capitalize only the first letter at most. If individual letters are pronounced separately (i.e., the pronounciation unit is a letter and not a word), capitalize all letters. The only exception is DEC, which is better pronounced as "deck" but not better written as "Dec" which looks too much like an abbreviation for December. -- Rahul Dhesi UUCP: oliveb!cirrusl!dhesi