I'm trying to get some insight into why this question about the pronunciation of Kruskal's algorithm is off topic.
Are pronunciation questions not welcome on SO?
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Sign up to join this communityI'm trying to get some insight into why this question about the pronunciation of Kruskal's algorithm is off topic.
Are pronunciation questions not welcome on SO?
Are pronunciation questions not welcome on SO?
That question seems to have answered itself, don't you think? To reiterate: no, pronounciation questions are not remotely on-topic on SO. To quote the FAQ:
What kind of questions can I ask here?
Stack Overflow is for professional and enthusiast programmers, people who write code because they love it. We feel the best Stack Overflow questions have a bit of
source code
in them, but if your question generally covers...
- a specific programming problem
- a software algorithm
- software tools commonly used by programmers
- practical, answerable problems that are unique to the programming profession ...then you’re in the right place to ask your question!
The pronunciation of any word — regardless of the word's relevance to programming — does not fall into this category.
To quote the FAQ just a little bit more:
What kind of questions should I not ask here?
You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face.
'Nuff said.
Guys, I understand your point that this is not a question about solving a programming problem. But do you really not think that pronunciation questions are useful for programmers?
not on Stack Overflow. SO has evolved to be, first and foremost, about solving programming problems, not about "being useful to programmers."
[pronunciation]
-tagged questions are good ones, though, so look out if anyone decides to go on a closing spree.
– Rob Hruska
Mar 14 '12 at 3:41
XYZ
with code but I am having problems doing so."
– Matt Ball
Mar 14 '12 at 4:01
Programmers will have heard the pronunciation of 'Kruskal' in the context of the algorithm, which is important.
Well, almost every programmer has heard Dijkstra's name in a programming context, but I highly doubt that programmers who aren't fluent in Dutch have any idea of how Edsger Wybe Dijkstra is pronounced. And how about Bjarne Stroustrup?
– yannis
Mar 14 '12 at 4:04
"Pronunciation (phonetics and phonology, dialectology)" is generally specified as on-topic question in The English Language and Usage Stack Exchange FAQ.
You may check if your specific case fits there:
What kind of questions can I ask here?
The English Language and Usage Stack Exchange is for linguists, etymologists, and (serious) English language enthusiasts. Questions on the following topics are welcomed here:
- Usage, word choice, and grammar
- Etymology (history of words’ development)
- Dialect differences
- Pronunciation (phonetics and phonology, dialectology)
- Spelling and punctuation
- Problems encountered by people learning English
But please, don’t ask any questions about these topics. They are out of scope for this site.
- Please proofread my document ("are there any mistakes in this text?")
- Languages other than English (including translation)
- How to improve my English
- How to name this function/variable in my program
- Criticism, discussion, and analysis of English literature
- Peeving about grammar disguised as a question
- "Explain this joke to me", except in the case where the crux of the joke relies on an aspect of English covered by one of the welcomed topics above.
...
In addition to what MДΓΓ БДLL said, most potential questions about pronunciation would seem to either be "general reference" (e.g. "Java") or controversial (e.g. "SQL"), with little in between.
Controversial questions just end up as "Not Constructive" with a bunch of IMHOs.
General reference questions would just clutter the site. If a question about one algorithm name / initialism / programming language is on topic, almost all would be on topic by precedent, and that'd just lead to ridiculousness. "How do you pronounce A#?", "How do you pronounce ActionScript?", "How do you pronounce Ada?" ...