Re: Wording: NUL(L) byte

On 24 April 2015 at 10:08, Peter Cowburn <petercowburn@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On 24 April 2015 at 03:34, Theodore M Rolle, Jr. <stercor@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> <!ENTITY nul 'NUL'> preserves the meaning. >> The second example 'NUL byte' mixes the two metaphors. >> How about: >> <!ENTITY NUL 'NUL'> OR >> <!ENTITY null 'null byte'> OR >> <!ENTITY null 'null character'> OR >> <!ENTITY null 'null thingy'> <-----<<< Not really. >> >> >> On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 8:42 PM, Christoph Becker <cmbecker69@gmx.de> >> wrote: >> >>> Hi everybody! >>> >>> While updating the German translation, I've found several changes of the >>> wording "NUL byte" to "NULL byte". Now I've stumbled upon the >>> isset man >>> page[1], where it says "&null; byte". >> >> >>> I think it would be good if there will be a general guideline on how to >>> spell this byte. ASCII uses the abbreviation "NUL"; in C one speaks of >>> "null character" and "null-terminated strings", which are also >>> known as >>> ASCIIZ (note the trailing "Z" for "zero"). Wikipedia seems to >>> prefer >>> the abbreviation "NUL". >>> >> > I believe that the most correct term is "null character", with the term > "null byte" (more?) common and both abbreviated to "NUL" (so, "NUL > character" is bad). I think that we should use the term "null character" > where possible, "null byte" where the word "character" might be confusing > or "byte" makes more sense, and only use "NUL" as a clarification where the > term is used alongside or in comparison to our "null" type or "NULL" > value. We should not be using "<type>null</type> character" or > "&null; > character" when referring to the null character. > +1, it is important that any standardisation adequately considers that PHP has two distinct concepts of NULL. There must be consistency that makes it clear when you are talking about the type and when you are talking about a byte with a value of zero - "&null; byte" on the isset() page is definitely wrong. > > >> >>> For consistency, and particularly with regard to translations, I suggest >>> to introduce the character entity reference &nul; (which would have to >>> carefully be distinguished from &null;). I'm not sure whether the >>> respective entity should include the word "byte" or not. Some ideas: >>> >>> <!ENTITY nul 'NUL'> >>> >> <!ENTITY nul 'NUL byte'> >>> <!ENTITY nul 'null byte'> >>> >>> Thoughts? >>> >>> [1] <http://php.net/manual/en/function.isset.php> >>> >>> -- >>> Christoph M. Becker >>> >> >> >