Ask for an answer...

[Roger Eller]

I suspect that ask and answer both starting with the letter A is no
accident due to their similar usage.  Prompt for...  might be better.

Prompt [for] choice with "this" or "that" or "the other"

Prompt [for] input with "Please type your birth date."

~Roger
On Aug 3, 2013 5:59 PM, "Jacques Hausser" <jacques.hausser at unil.ch> wrote:

> It's perhaps not a brand new topic, but I floundered again, being confused
> with "ask" and "answer" commands, so I let off some stream.
> I was always bothered - and I'm not the only one - by the semantic of
> these commands. In both cases, the script asks a question, and the user has
> to answer. But the "answer" command is viewed as an order to the user, when
> the ask command is viewed as a demand from the application. Two points of
> view for two commands which in fact have very similar meanings. It seems
> logical that these commands should be either described from the
> application's side or from the user's side, and not the actual mixture of
> both.
> It would be (semantically) straightforward to change the meanings of the
> extand commands, but a nightmare to re-actualize old code. So, synonymizing
> (english?) only one of them, solutions could be:
>
> 1) if you prefer the point of view of the application:
>
> "answer" could be replaced by "request"-- for a demand needing a yes-or-no
> answer
> "ask" -- no change; for a demand requesting a more detailed answer, e.g.
> your birthday…
>
> 2) if you prefer the point of view of the user
>
> "answer" -- no change; for a yes-or-no answer
> "ask" could be replaced by "reply" -- with something more detailed.
>
> I'm sure that most of you, native English speakers, could find better
> solutions…I'm looking forward for them !
>
> Jacques
>
>
>
>
>
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