GenPD Subsystem Posted For Linux 6.6 - Torvalds Wonders What The Heck Is "GenPD"

[Delgarde]

I've heard it said that there are only two hard things in programming: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors.

And since that's the second time today I've seen that joke, I'll cite another variant I'm partial to...

There are only two hard problems in distributed systems:

2. Exactly-once delivery
1. Guaranteed order of messages
2. Exactly-once delivery

As to the original topic, absent any context, I would agree with Linus in assuming that "gen" was short for "generated", not "generic". Both word are common enough in the product and industry I work in, and I don't think I've ever seen "generic" abbreviated that way... "gen" is always used in the context of "code generation", "third generation", "electricity generation", etc.

And yes, Linus is also correct that spelling things out is good practice. This isn't the 1970's... we have plenty of disk space and memory, long filenames, wide screens, IDEs with auto-complete... there's rarely any good reason to abbreviate. Something to that effect is written into our coding standards at work... barring a handful of common exceptions, acronyms and abbreviations are forbidden in module / file / class / method names.

[EphemeralEft]

Classic example are POS systems, doesn't help either that most people find the POS systems to be actually POS.

Hot take, but I think that Pretty Orange Snakes are in fact Plump Ostentatious Steaks.