[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"][color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"]I remember being so excited about learning new things that I would often share my growing vocabulary with others. Of course, rattling off GPU model numbers and introducing my peers to my work with terms I made up made me feel smart, but it did limit my audience. I'm not just talking about an audience of middle-aged parents or users who ride the short bus, I'm including other geeks who actually knew what I was talking about.[/font][/color][/font][/color][color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"][color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"]
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[font="Georgia,"][color="#111111"][size="2"]Human language is great for not just sharing ideas, but also putting them in perspective. Even some of the most brutal mindf&#*s like quantum phenomenon can be clearly explained in accessible ways by people like Dr. Michio Kaku or Dr. Richard Feynman. The interesting thing about these men is that they do not really describe systems and relationships separately based on their knowledge alone, they mix together their knowledge AND the knowledge of their audience to create a mutually beneficial message: The audience gets it, while the speaker enjoys a boost to their reputation (assuming they were accurate!).[/color][/font]
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[font="Georgia,"][color="#111111"][size="2"]I know that the point of speaking simply has been discussed since Einstein weighed in on it, but I really want to express my appreciation to people who don't use jargon, even when I understand it anyway.[/color][/font][color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"]
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[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"]I tried this "walking encyclopedia" shtick: A few years ago when I tried too hard to "sound smart" to a fellow developer I met in Starbucks. I remember referring to acronyms and taking care to spell each one out. I may as well have stood up, puffed out my chest and screamed "BOW TO MY SUPERIOR, HYPER-COMPRESSED VOCABULARY!" I later realized just how inhuman I sounded.[/font][/color]
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[/font][/color][color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"]Since then, I get a little impatient when someone uses jargon because I genuinely want to hear what they have to say! Why am I being led down some linguistic detour that takes more work to listen to?[/font][/color]
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[/font][/color][color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"]To illustrate how far this could go, I recently stumbled upon an interesting library, and the page describing it included this text (translated from French).[/font][/color][color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"]
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[font="Georgia,"][size="2"][color="#111111"][quote]A pipeline [/color][/font]P[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] is a chain of functions [/font][/color]F1[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] , ..., [/font][/color]Fn[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] such that P (x) = (Fn ? ... . F1) (x). Therefore, if the function F [/font][/color]i[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] defined by F [/font][/color]i[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] : E [/font][/color]i[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] ? S [/font][/color]i [sup][ 1 ][/sup][color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] , then E [/font][/color]i +1[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] = S [/font][/color]i[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] and S [/font][/color]i-1[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] = E [/font][/color]i[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] . In other words, the output of F [/font][/color]i[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] is the entry of F [/font][/color]i +1[color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"] [/quote][/font][/color]
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[font="Georgia,"][size="2"][color="#111111"]This gets the point across, but it just does not seem necessary. Why assume that the audience is familiar with composite functions and basic set theory? If you are not in a formal setting that expects you to get technical, why is the below so dirty?[/color][/font]
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[font="Georgia,"][size="2"][color="#111111"][quote]A pipeline is a series of functions that are processed in a fixed order, where the output of each function is passed on to the next one down the line. The output of the entire pipeline is the output of the last function.[/quote][/color][/font][color="#111111"][font="Georgia,"]
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[font="Georgia,"][size="2"][color="#111111"]When you write documentation, or are just plain trying to explain things to someone, how do you frame what you say or write? Is it better to communicate with people on your own level, or to make everything you say understandable to a ten year old?[/color][/font]