Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 01:40, 25 November 2015

This guideline is a part of the English Misplaced Pages's Manual of Style. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcut MOS:COMPUTING

This page contains style guidelines for creating and editing articles on computers, software, networking, the Internet and information technology. Other policies and guidelines should also be followed, and the general rules from the Manual of Style also apply.

Titles and acronyms

Avoid abbreviations and acronyms, except when the subject is almost never spelled out. For example, Voice over Internet Protocol is the acceptable title, but not Voice over IP or VoIP. In the body however, acronyms may be used, provided that they are spelled out all on their first use; put the acronym in parentheses after the spelled-out name.

Never use parentheses at the end of article titles to show acronyms, e.g., do not use Voice over IP (VoIP). This notation is used to disambiguate a computer term from another article using the same name. For example, this notation is used to disambiguate cookie (computing) from cookie.

Do not overuse capital letters. Do not use capital letters for each word of a phrase just because the phrase is the article title, is a heading or has a corresponding acronym in parentheses. Standards documents or marketing material often overuse capital letters. Misplaced Pages style, however, uses more common English style of using capital letters only for true proper names. Some terms start as proper names and then become applied to generic concepts. Normal English is used for normal English words, while initial capitals can be used when the word is a newly coined one, such as Ethernet.

Use the most common name for the title. When a technology is defined by an official standard or standards body, use its common name as article title (such as 10-gigabit Ethernet) but create a redirect for the official or technical names (such as IEEE 802.3ae). In some cases such as Wi-Fi, the common (in this case, trademarked) name can have a separate article from the standard, when they are independently notable enough to justify separate articles. Each edition or amendment to the standard need not have its own article, unless they are separately notable such as IEEE 802.11n-2009 and IEEE 802.11g-2003.

Trademarks

For computer technology trademarks, please adhere to Misplaced Pages policies and style guidelines regarding trademarks. For trademarks in all capital letters or all small letters, use standard English: Use initial capital letter. For example, Unix instead of UNIX. There is no reason to explain this in the body of each article.

Avoid common mistakes

Keep in mind what Misplaced Pages is not. Since it is not a dictionary, each term or product does not always get its own article. Often, they are combined into topics that can be the subject of a single high quality encyclopedia article.

Product directory

Avoid just pasting lists of features into the article, since they can become dated or removed as advertisement or copyright violations. Avoid relative time references (such as "currently", "lately" or "now").

Version versus product name

Each software product version must be referred to with the most common name.

Software vendors often use one of the following approaches to refer to a specific version of a software product:

1. They include the version number in their reference, e.g. WinRAR 4, WinRAR version 3 and WinRAR v2.
2. They change the product name with each release, e.g. Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Video games add a twist to this scheme. Video game vendors often make sequels and prequels for their most notable products. They use numbers in their video game titles to show their relationship. For instance Red Alert 2 and Red Alert 3 are two distinct but related video games. However, numbers that are part of the title are not version numbers. A separate version number may still be used. For instance, Red Alert 2 v1.008 is an updated version of Red Alert 2.

Consistently use the most common product name. For example, use Windows XP, not Windows v5.1 or Windows NT v5.1. Do not confuse and combine these methods, e.g. never use Red Alert v2 or Red Alert version 2 to refer to Red Alert 2. Do not invent novel short forms and abbreviations.

Service pack

Service packs or service releases are computer software that modify other computer software to fix their bugs or improve them. When referring to service packs, please make proper distinction between the version of software product which is serviced via a service pack and the service pack itself.

To refer to a service pack, write down the full name of service pack. For example:

• Windows XP Service Pack 2
• WinZip 9 Service Release 1

To refer to a software product updated with a service pack, write: with . For example:

• Windows XP with Service Pack 2
• WinZip 9 with Service Release 1

Alternatively, where applicable, you can specify the version identifier of the software product for conciseness. For example:

• Windows XP SP2
• WinZip 9 SR-1

Try to use only one of these two styles consistently throughout the entire article prose. Using both may confuse the readers with little technical knowledge as they may not understand that both forms refer to the same entity. However, if both forms are frequently used in mainstream media (as was the case with Microsoft Windows service packs), the article must introduce both and establish their relation, before consistently using one.

x86 versus IA-32

• MOS:X86
• MOS:IA-32

Exercise care while using the term "x86" because it can cause ambiguity. x86 is a type of CPU first developed by Intel corporation, and later by others. There are two different variations of x86 in widespread use: IA-32 and x86-64. However, due to the dominance of IA-32, the term "x86" is often used to refer to IA-32 through metonymy. Therefore, these terms must be used with care.

32-bit and 64-bit

Do not use the terms "32-bit", "64-bit" or other such terms of bit lengths to refer to computer, CPU or software architectures. These terms are too vague and can cause a lot of ambiguity or misinformation.

These terms are often used to refer to two well-known CPU architecture types: IA-32 (a 32-bit variant of x86) and x64 (a 64-bit variant of x86). However, neither is IA-32 the only 32-bit CPU architecture in the world nor is x64 the only 64-bit CPU architecture available.

Example of correct usage:

• "This software application only runs on x64 CPUs."
• "The IA-64 edition of this product "
• "The .z80 build created specifically for Zilog Z80 and compatible CPUs "

Examples of incorrect usage:

• "This software application only runs on 64-bit CPUs."
• "The 32-bit edition of this product "

Linux vs. GNU/Linux

• MOS:LINUX

Use "Linux" to refer to the family of operating systems based on the Linux kernel, not "GNU/Linux". This practice does not apply to proper names of individual operating systems.

GNU/Linux naming controversy does exist and "GNU/Linux" is a name advocated by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). Misplaced Pages, however, prefers the name that is most commonly used (as determined by its prevalence in reliable English-language sources). The consensus of discussions in Talk:Linux/Name is that the point of view of the FSF is not the common English-language usage.

Oft-neglected sources

In Misplaced Pages, everything needs sources, including but not limited to software release dates, software package sizes, name and number of supported languages and the programming languages used to develop software products. Avoid any unreferenced assertions, including but not limited to "multilingual", "written in C++" or "developed for Windows".

Collocation

Avoid using strange forms of language. On the contrary, editors must stick to the most commonly used forms to make sure the readers feel at home. Do not use synonyms of a certain words just because they are synonyms; collocation is very important.

For instance:

1. Computer programs that are no longer developed are called "abandonware". Do not use "forgottenware" or such novel terms. (See abandonware)
2. The act of ceasing development of a software product is called "discontinuation". Do not use "abandonment" or similar alien terms. (See software release cycle and end-of-life (product))
3. Computer programs run on a certain operating system or platform. Do not use "run under" or "run beneath".
4. Computer programs run in context or within the context of a user account. Do not use "under", "beneath", "on", "inside" or "over". While these variations may be okay in informal speech, Misplaced Pages:Featured article criteria demands the use of professional style.
5. "Log on", "Log in" and "Sign in" are all verbs that mean to "supply credentials for authentication". However, users either "log on to their computers" or "log in to their computers". They never "sign in to their computers". "Sign in" is only used for the authentication over the Internet. (See login)
6. "Disc" and "disk" both refer to digital storage media. However, "disc" collocates with optical media as in Compact Disc and Blu-ray Disc, while "disk" collocates with magnetic media as in hard disk and floppy disk.

Tense

• WP:COMPNOW
• MOS:COMPNOW

Always use present tense for verbs that describe genres, types and classes, even if the subject of the description (e.g. program, library, device) no longer exists, is discontinued or is unsupported/unmaintained.

The following example is incorrect:

• TrueCrypt was a disk encryption program, released by TrueCrypt Foundation.

This sentence suggests that TrueCrypt is not a disk encryption program, although it once was. (Assume TrueCrypt has never changed its nature during its development lifecycle.) Grammatical deletion hides the fact that there are two "to be" verbs in this sentence; the more elusive fact, however, is that these two "to be" verbs are grammatically different: The first is a stative verb that does not change throughout its duration while the second is a dynamic verb which may cease to be valid after a duration when discontinuation occurs.

Use either of the following, whichever is more appropriate:

• TrueCrypt is a discontinued disk encryption program. It was released by TrueCrypt Foundation.
• TrueCrypt is a disk encryption program, released by TrueCrypt Foundation.

Optional styles

The Arbitration Committee has ruled that editors should not change an article from one guideline-defined style to another without a substantial reason unrelated to mere choice of style. Revert-warring over optional styles is unacceptable. Where there is disagreement over which of the styles to use in an article, maintain status quo.

Do not edit-war over:

• Choosing one of the many synonyms for a concept, e.g. "shareware", "trialware" or other synonyms; "x64" or "x86-64"; "Proprietary software" or "closed-source"
• Using one word or many word for the same concept, e.g. "x86" or "IA-32 and x64"
• Ascending or descending sort order
• Inserting one of the multiple URLs that all point to the same place and none has any advantage over the other
• Any other multiple forms of the same thing

Screenshots of software

Command-line elements

• WP:MOSCOMM
• MOS:CLI

This section outlines the guideline for incorporating elements of terminals or command-line interpreters into Misplaced Pages articles, including syntax of shell commands or programs.

General guidelines

• When providing command-line examples or discussing command-line elements, maintain clarity and simplicity.
• Command-line elements should be presented in a monospaced font. For inline references, use <code>...</code> tag pair. In case of presenting multiple lines of command-line code, either prefix each line with a space character or enclose them all in a <pre>...</pre> tag pair.
• Avoid referencing environment variables, dates, working directories, usernames, and hostnames unless they are relevant in the example.
• Adhere to the following terminology:
  • An option or switch is something that modifies the general behavior of the command.
  • A parameter is a specific value, such as a file name or host name.
  • An argument is any set of characters that follow a command name, including both options and parameters. See Parameter (computing) § Parameters and arguments.
• When presenting arguments, maintain simplicity; specify them only when necessary and with clear explanations. Remember that Misplaced Pages is not a substitute for manual pages. Do not document the entire list of options associated with a command unless such descriptiveness has encyclopedic purpose.
• Identify parameter placeholders with logical names in italics. These names should not contain spaces, as spaces are used to separate multiple arguments on the command line. The following are some examples:
  • (prompt) command parameter-name
  • (prompt) command ParameterName
  • (prompt) command parameter_name
  • (prompt) command parametername
• Enclose optional arguments with square brackets: .
• Specify repeating parameters using one of the following styles:
  • (prompt) command parameter0
  • (prompt) command
• Zealously maintain consistency in applying optional styles explained above for the entire article.

Platform-specific guidelines

Microsoft Windows

The most common desktop operating system in use today is Microsoft Windows, whose command-line syntax has once been based on that of MS-DOS and OS/2; with the increasing popularity of Windows PowerShell, however, the style has moved towards that of Unix-like systems and programming languages. As such, stick to the DOS and OS/2 guidelines for command-line elements and examples of Command Prompt and Recovery Console. In case of the Windows PowerShell, however, adhere to the Unix-like systems and Windows PowerShell guidelines below.

CP/M, DOS and OS/2

The following additional guidelines are for command-line examples of the CP/M, DOS and OS/2 families of operating systems:

• Write the names of internal or external commands, file and directory names (for as long as they fit into the 8.3 scheme) and environment variable names in all upper-case letters (such as DIR, AUTOEXEC.BAT or %PROMPT%).
  • Note: As mentioned at the beginning of this section, this rule applies to command-line examples only. For the use of capital letters in the rest of the prose and in the article title, please see Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Capital letters § All caps and Misplaced Pages:Article titles § Use commonly recognizable names.
• While in principle DOS and OS/2 (and Windows) support both backslash (\) and forward slash (/) as a separator for directories, some programs (including most shells in their default configuration) support only the backslash. Therefore, use the backslash in examples of directory paths on local volumes unless it is important to indicate otherwise.
• Various DOS systems support a user-configurable SwitChar (typically either a forward slash (/) or a hyphen-minus (-)), but not all programs adhere to it. Therefore, if the program supports it, use the default / in examples, unless it is important to indicate otherwise.
• Standard options (of the form /C or -C, where C is some character) should also be upper-case, unless they are case-sensitive.
• Contrast program names against built-in command names by appending their file extension. If a program is not included with certain versions (such as XCOPY.EXE or EDIT.COM), then the versions for which it is known to be included should be indicated.

Unix-like systems and Windows PowerShell

• Shell builtin commands and cmdlets (such as cd and history) should be indicated as such.
• Avoid shell-specific commands or utilities (such as the for loop or certain stream behaviors) whenever possible, because of the great variation in shells across Unix-like systems. If a shell-specific sequence is required for proper explanation, provide an example for the ALGOL-like shells (Bourne shell, Korn shell, and Bash) as well as one for the C-like syntax of C shell and tcsh.
• Adhere to case-sensitivity requirements of the shell. The names of most commands on Unix-like systems are entirely in lower-case characters while the shell and operating environment are both case-sensitive. Windows PowerShell is not case-sensitive; so write cmdlet names in their natural English form to ease reading and memorizing. Write Unix-derived aliases (such as ls and cp) in lowercase. Use the Lowercase title or Wrongtitle template when necessary.
• Differentiate commands that normally require privileged access from those that do not require it.
• In some cases, the value of a parameter will commonly contain shell metacharacters. In these cases, it may be wise to specify quoting in the example to prevent users from receiving errors that to them will seem strange and unrelated.
• Always specify the minimum (and, if applicable, the maximum) version number of the shell that supports the command. Linux (owing to its open-source nature) and Windows PowerShell may introduce new commands at any time.

Providing sample output

It may often be useful to provide a sample of the output that a command generates. In these cases, the full command and all arguments as they were typed are given. The output of the command will therefore be specific to environment and other variables. The tags <pre>...</pre>, <nowiki>...</nowiki> and <SyntaxHighlight>...</SyntaxHighlight> (with proper arguments) prevent conflicts with the wiki markup syntax.

Examples of usage

DOS examples

The DIR built-in command on DOS, which lists files and directories:

> DIR  

The program MOVE.EXE on MS-DOS, whose behavior had to be emulated prior to its introduction:

> MOVE.EXE source target

Unix examples

The ls command on Unix-like systems, which lists files and directories:

$ ls  

The mkfs command, which creates new file systems and as such usually requires privileged access:

# mkfs   device

The wget program, one of the GNU utilities, which retrieves files given a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). URIs can sometimes contain shell meta-characters, and so the parameter is usually quoted to prevent errors.

$ wget  "URI"

The if built-in structure, whose syntax varies. In Bourne shell, Korn shell and Bash:

$ if command ; then command ; ... ; fi

In C shell and tcsh:

% if (expression) then command ; ... ; endif

Sample output of the df command, which lists disk space usage on mounted file systems:

$ df -P
Filesystem          512-blocks      Used Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/hda2             39331760   7398904  29834768      20% /

License

Try to specify the licensing terms of the subject of a computer program article accurately and concisely.

License agreements usually specify one or more of the following:

1. Environment of use (e.g. commercial, non-commercial, personal, educational, non-military, etc.)
2. Cost of use (e.g. free of charge, one-time payment, subscription-based, etc.)
3. Applicable licensees (e.g. unrestricted, one computer, one user account of a computer, one user, volume licensing, etc.)
4. Other rights (e.g. the right to study, modify, reverse-engineer, etc.) or restrictions (e.g. of use for producing pornographic contents)

Misplaced Pages has articles about the most common software licensing schemes. Therefore, most of the times, one or two wikilinked words in the infobox can describe the licensing scheme. For instance GPL, Freemium, BSD license or Proprietary commercial software (Write: ] ]). Avoid vague or outright non-informative phrases like "Vendor’s EULA", "Multiple" and "Unknown".

Website addresses

• MOS:WEBADDR

Exposed URLs

Certain areas of Misplaced Pages such as infoboxes require website addresses (URL) to be exposed in print. To maintain readability and conciseness, certain parts of the web addresses may need to be hidden or their shorter forms used.

A web address consists of several parts. The following shows some of the most commonly-seen ones:

However, the reader does not need to see all of these somewhat unappealing and hard-to-remember items, thanks to the web browsers and web servers' ability to infer them. Often, the following parts can be omitted:

1. Scheme: Omit "http://" in the displayed URL but not in the underlying link; {{URL}} template hides this scheme automatically. Other schemes like "https://" and "ftp://" need to stay.
2. "FQDN": Omit "www." because users often leave out this part of the fully qualified domain name and expect the URL to work properly.
3. Request: When the request part is only a single slash character ("/"), omit it; {{URL}} template hides this automatically. Users often omit the single slash character as the only request specification and expect the URL to work properly.

The omission is only sanctioned when the functionality is undeterred. Always test the resulting URL. In the rare cases that "www." or / are required, it is recommended to leave an invisible wiki-markup comment to notify future editors.

If the target website provider has provided shorter alternative URLs to the webpage, use them. The only exception to this instance are short URLs that use hard-to-remember numbers. For instance:

Do not use URL shortening services such as bit.ly. Such URLs are maintained by independent entities and are susceptible to link rot. (See also: URL shortening § Shortcomings)

Choosing between HTTP and HTTPS

In the event that the linked website serves contents over both HTTP and HTTPS protocols, i.e. it accepts URLs with both "http://" and "https://" schemes, observe the following:

• Use "https://" scheme for sites that only serve contents over HTTPS. This includes websites that do accept "http://" schemes but redirect them to "https://".
• Use protocol relative links for sites that support both HTTP and HTTPS.
• Use "http://" scheme" for sites that do not support HTTPS at all.

See also

• WikiProject Computer science/Manual of style (draft)
• Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers § Non-base-10 notations

Notes

1. For the first time, Windows 8 has used "sign in" instead of "log in" but as of October 2012, this exception has remained a negligible minority.
2. See Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Jguk § Principles, Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/jguk 2 § Principles and Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Sortan § Principles
3. The original discussion can be found in Misplaced Pages:Village pump (policy)/Archive 111 § As WP uses HTTPS, should (some) external links, too?

• Misplaced Pages Manual of Style (science)
• Misplaced Pages Manual of Style (formatting)