| Message ID | 20140306032706.9641.99151.stgit@viggo.jf.intel.com |
|---|---|
| State | Not Applicable |
| Delegated to: | David Miller |
| Headers | show |
Hello, Dan. On Wed, Mar 05, 2014 at 07:33:04PM -0800, Dan Williams wrote: > We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and > frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We > do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded > comments. > > Signed-off-by: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com> > --- > Hi Tejun, > > Today is "Spread the Word to End the Word" day, so I thought it would be > an interesting exercise to see how often the r-word is used in kernel > code comments. Suprisingly, to me at least, it's rare. In fact it > seems only libata uses it in code commentary. > > Please consider applying this patch to call slow-to-reset devices > outliers. I lack the cultural context to evaluate whether this is necessary. That said, there's no reason to cling onto it when an active contributor cares enough to submit a patch about it. Can you please make the patch description a bit drier tho? Thanks.
On Wed, 05 Mar 2014 19:33:04 -0800 Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com> wrote: > We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and > frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We > do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded > comments. The comment appears to be very accurately worded in this case. To retard is to slow down. We allow 30 seconds of idleness for very slow devices. Now I can see why you might want to remove the word in some other context such as if we had /* Linus is such a retard */ but this context appears to be correct, and in fact a rather clever bit of wordplay (intended or otherwise) Alan -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ide" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 1:40 PM, One Thousand Gnomes <gnomes@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> wrote: > On Wed, 05 Mar 2014 19:33:04 -0800 > Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com> wrote: > >> We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and >> frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We >> do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded >> comments. > > The comment appears to be very accurately worded in this case. To retard > is to slow down. We allow 30 seconds of idleness for very slow devices. Right, as a verb, if the comment had said "some devices retard the reset recovery process" that would be pedantic word choice but more in line with a specific technical meaning of the word. > Now I can see why you might want to remove the word in some other context > such as if we had /* Linus is such a retard */ but this context appears > to be correct, and in fact a rather clever bit of wordplay (intended or > otherwise) Actually, no, int this case I'm specifically concerned with adjective usage "retarded devices". Where the implication is there is something wrong with the device. Unfortunately in the US it has become a slur and slang term to classify the "worst of things". I suspect that usage has not made it to the UK? -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ide" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Dan Williams wrote: > On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 1:40 PM, One Thousand Gnomes > <gnomes@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> wrote: >> On Wed, 05 Mar 2014 19:33:04 -0800 >> Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com> wrote: >> >>> We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and >>> frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We >>> do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded >>> comments. >> The comment appears to be very accurately worded in this case. To retard >> is to slow down. We allow 30 seconds of idleness for very slow devices. > > Right, as a verb, if the comment had said "some devices retard the > reset recovery process" that would be pedantic word choice but more in > line with a specific technical meaning of the word. > >> Now I can see why you might want to remove the word in some other context >> such as if we had /* Linus is such a retard */ but this context appears >> to be correct, and in fact a rather clever bit of wordplay (intended or >> otherwise) > > Actually, no, int this case I'm specifically concerned with adjective > usage "retarded devices". Where the implication is there is something > wrong with the device. Unfortunately in the US it has become a slur > and slang term to classify the "worst of things". I suspect that > usage has not made it to the UK? I think what hasn't made it to the UK is an undue emphasis on political correctness. 'Retarded' at least implies slowness whereas 'outlier' is a meaningless noise word. Furthermore, it's actually a noun rather than an adjective, so the proposed change makes the comment ungrammatical. The word you're looking for is 'outlying' though I would prefer a meaningful description such as 'extremely slow devices' if obsequiousness to political correctness is deemed necessary. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ide" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 3:19 AM, Dave Howorth <dhoworth@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk> wrote: > Dan Williams wrote: >> On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 1:40 PM, One Thousand Gnomes >> <gnomes@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> wrote: >>> On Wed, 05 Mar 2014 19:33:04 -0800 >>> Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com> wrote: >>> >>>> We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and >>>> frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We >>>> do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded >>>> comments. >>> The comment appears to be very accurately worded in this case. To retard >>> is to slow down. We allow 30 seconds of idleness for very slow devices. >> >> Right, as a verb, if the comment had said "some devices retard the >> reset recovery process" that would be pedantic word choice but more in >> line with a specific technical meaning of the word. >> >>> Now I can see why you might want to remove the word in some other context >>> such as if we had /* Linus is such a retard */ but this context appears >>> to be correct, and in fact a rather clever bit of wordplay (intended or >>> otherwise) >> >> Actually, no, int this case I'm specifically concerned with adjective >> usage "retarded devices". Where the implication is there is something >> wrong with the device. Unfortunately in the US it has become a slur >> and slang term to classify the "worst of things". I suspect that >> usage has not made it to the UK? > > I think what hasn't made it to the UK is an undue emphasis on political > correctness. 'Retarded' at least implies slowness ...among other things. > whereas 'outlier' is a meaningless noise word. "An outlier is an observation point that is distant from other observations", and the comments clarify that the specific observation in this case is prolonged recovery time. Rhetorical question, are "slow" devices fast in other areas? The comments are now constrained to the attribute of recovery latency relative to other devices. > Furthermore, it's actually a noun rather than an > adjective, so the proposed change makes the comment ungrammatical. See "attributive noun". > The word you're looking for is 'outlying' though I would prefer a meaningful > description such as 'extremely slow devices' if obsequiousness to > political correctness is deemed necessary. No, it isn't, but thank you for compliment. I have no problem being deferential to people deserving of empathy. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ide" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> > Actually, no, int this case I'm specifically concerned with adjective > > usage "retarded devices". Where the implication is there is something > > wrong with the device. Unfortunately in the US it has become a slur > > and slang term to classify the "worst of things". I suspect that > > usage has not made it to the UK? > > I think what hasn't made it to the UK is an undue emphasis on political > correctness. And also that in British English we simply reclaimed the word rather than giving it away to those who misused it. Trying to use it as an insult just makes someone in the UK sound like they've been watching too much 1970-80s television. The only error I can see is the fact that the device is doing the retarding. Alan -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ide" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 6:49 AM, One Thousand Gnomes <gnomes@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> wrote: >> > Actually, no, int this case I'm specifically concerned with adjective >> > usage "retarded devices". Where the implication is there is something >> > wrong with the device. Unfortunately in the US it has become a slur >> > and slang term to classify the "worst of things". I suspect that >> > usage has not made it to the UK? >> >> I think what hasn't made it to the UK is an undue emphasis on political >> correctness. > > And also that in British English we simply reclaimed the word rather than > giving it away to those who misused it. Trying to use it as an insult > just makes someone in the UK sound like they've been watching too much > 1970-80s television. :-) Here's hoping it meets a similar fate in the US. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ide" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
diff --git a/drivers/ata/libata-eh.c b/drivers/ata/libata-eh.c index b4d0596f30a8..6760fc4e85b8 100644 --- a/drivers/ata/libata-eh.c +++ b/drivers/ata/libata-eh.c @@ -95,12 +95,13 @@ enum { * represents timeout for that try. The first try can be soft or * hardreset. All others are hardreset if available. In most cases * the first reset w/ 10sec timeout should succeed. Following entries - * are mostly for error handling, hotplug and retarded devices. + * are mostly for error handling, hotplug and those outlier devices that + * take an exceptionally long time to recover from reset. */ static const unsigned long ata_eh_reset_timeouts[] = { 10000, /* most drives spin up by 10sec */ 10000, /* > 99% working drives spin up before 20sec */ - 35000, /* give > 30 secs of idleness for retarded devices */ + 35000, /* give > 30 secs of idleness for outlier devices */ 5000, /* and sweet one last chance */ ULONG_MAX, /* > 1 min has elapsed, give up */ };
We want our contributors to spend their anger, resentment, and frustration emotional resources on finding and fixing broken code. We do not want those valuable resources wasted on unfortunately worded comments. Signed-off-by: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com> --- Hi Tejun, Today is "Spread the Word to End the Word" day, so I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how often the r-word is used in kernel code comments. Suprisingly, to me at least, it's rare. In fact it seems only libata uses it in code commentary. Please consider applying this patch to call slow-to-reset devices outliers. Regards, Dan drivers/ata/libata-eh.c | 5 +++-- 1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ide" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html