How do you pronounce it?

[adlaiff6]

Ever tried telling someone that they can use Tab to auto-complete in the Linux prompt? I'll be giving them a command and half-way through something I'll just tack on --TAB before going to the next bit.

All the time.

[henry]

How about concatenation? In PHP they use $string .= "extra"; and in a lot of other languages they use +=.

I call them "dot-equals" and "plus-equals"

.= concatenates strings, += assigns the sum of both sides (PHP uses both)

[LE4dGOLEM]

lah-nee

[smithman89]

Here's another: ^
Is it pronouced "x-or" or "zor"?

So, i was in my digital electronics class, and my teacher asked a question, and the answer was xor, so i raised my hand and said 'zor'. I had to say it like 5 times before he understood what i said. I always use 'zor', but my question is, how would you say 'xnor'? i was thinking 'ze-nor' but it sounded kinda funny.

[StuMo]

char: "Character".
GIF: Hard G
javac: "Javak", even though I know it's wrong. It's a syllable less than the proper way.
C++: The same as basically everyone else on the face on the Earth, "C plus plus".
#: "Hash", except in the contexts of music and C# in which I say "sharp".
=: "Equals".
==: "Test equals".
===: "Exactly equals".
x/2: "A half x" for big values of x, "x, all over two" when x is an expression rather than a number/quantity, and for x == 3 or 5 or 7 I tend to say "x halves" - especially for x == 3, as in "kinetic energy is three halves kT.".
2x: Two x
0: "Zero", "nought", and "oh", in order of decreasing frequency. I used to call x_0 "x sub zero" but now I just call it "x zero", leading to me saying "x zero" for most xes (how do you pluralise a single letter? I'm calling the plural of x "xes", I was going to write "x'es" but yuck ...), but for xes that would make "x zero" difficult to pronounce I usually say "x nought", to avoid whatever the consonant equivalent of a hiatus is. The only time I've ever used "oh" is for stuff like "NCC-1701D".

Pi/phi/psi/chi/...: To rhyme with "pie".

": "Double quote".
': "Apostrope", "single quote", or "pop quote", depending on context.
`: "Push quote", see above "pop quote".
*: "Asterisk" in normal conversation, "pointer of" in C, "times" in multiplication.

5^2: "Five squared".
5^3: "Five cubed".
5^0: "One".
5^x: "Five to the x".
5!: "Five factorial".
!: "Exclamation" usually, "not" in curly bracket languages, "bang" in shell scripting (so I call #! "hash bang").

(): "Parentheses" (singular "parenthesis") in normal conversation, "brackets" in maths and programming.
[]: "Square brackets" in all contexts.
{}: "Braces", although for some reason I prefer to refer to curly bracket languages as "curly bracket languages" rather than "brace languages".
Any type of opening bracket gets called a "push bracket" and any closing bracket gets called a "pop bracket".

Suppose you have a zero-based array a. Are elements a[0], a[1], a[2], ... the "zeroth, first, second, ..." elements, or the "first, second, third, ..." elements?

I would call them "a zero", "a one", "a two", ..., because array indices in coding are near enough the same as subscripts in maths (and this is how I pronounce subscripts, see "0" above), in fact I'm pretty sure the K&R book calls them "array subscripts", even though IRL I've only ever heard of them referred to as "array indices".

ASCII - Askee (like "house key")

I've heard people pronouncing it "A.S.C.I.I", and aschee.

I pronounce it ass key. I absolutely hate the way Kryten in Red Dwarf calls it "A-S-C-2"!

[LiraNuna]

I come from the video game programming world, and when talking code using HW terms, it can be really confusing since HW manufactures doesn't give a proper name for memory addresses.

Some examples of what I ran into the past few years:
VRAM (Video RAM) - Some coders pronounce it as Vee-RAM, others as Vay-RAM.
IDTCM (Instruction cache data space) - Some pronounce it as Eye-Dee-Tee-See-Em, and others as ee-tzm.

Not to mention register names:
REG_POWERCNT (main power control register) - Some call it just Power See Are (CR = Control Register) and others call it Power Ce-Nat.
REG_MEMEXC (Memory bank exchange) - I've heard lots of variants for this one - Rej Mem Exec - Rej Mem Change or simply Rej Mem Ex.

I wonder what makes people read the same text differently when they have never heard the term, and how one would argue if corrected.

[joeframbach]

I hate to bring up an old topic, but I just found out that #! is pronounced "shebang"

e.g., #!usr/bin/perl

I just thought this is interesting and wanted to add it to the conversation

[Phenriz]

I hate to bring up an old topic, but I just found out that #! is pronounced "shebang"

e.g., #!usr/bin/perl

I just thought this is interesting and wanted to add it to the conversation

this is the first post i've read in this thread, i shall now be posting shebangs all ofver the place.

that is all.

[phlip]

# is hash.
£ is pound.

£ is pounds sterling, as in money. # is (apparently) pounds, as in weight... Wikipedia claims it was originally a ligature for lb - strip off the loop from the b, add a couple of horizontal lines for good measure... odd, but no worse than the etymology for some other symbols...

That said, I call it "hash", or "number" when it's immediately followed by digits (like in assembly)... partly because that's what everyone says here, and partly because "pound" is ambiguous (there's "pound sterling" to refer specifically for the money, but I don't know of a term to refer specifically to weight... and anyway, people don't associate # with lb any more...)

Though, I really should start calling it a "mesh".

Incidentally, I always pronounce "mplayer" as em-player, but the similarly-named "mencoder" which I guess should be pronounced em-encoder I pronounce men-coder... and I keep doing it, even though I know it's wrong...

[SpitValve]

When I was a kid, I called # a "naughts and crosses board"

[djn]

Incidentally, I always pronounce "mplayer" as em-player, but the similarly-named "mencoder" which I guess should be pronounced em-encoder I pronounce men-coder... and I keep doing it, even though I know it's wrong...

IHNTA,IJLTS men-coder.
I wonder if I could construct a sentence where that would make sense as a word?

[chishm]

REG_POWERCNT (main power control register) - Some call it just Power See Are (CR = Control Register) and others call it Power Ce-Nat.

I pronounce it "rej power cunt (really short, soft u)", not to be dirty, but because I see it as a shortened version of control, so I just shorten my pronounciation of control. Same goes for char, which I pronounce "car", although I am thinking of calling it "ca" (like can without the n), since that's the start sound of "character".

That also goes for internet slang, where I pronounce Gee Willikers as "oh my god" and WTF as "what the fuck". They also roll off the tongue better that way.

[Ankur]

Back to the list...

char - charred wood
GIF - hard G
javac - java see
C++ - see plus plus
C# - see sharp
= - is, or set to
== - equals
x / 2 - ecks over two
0 - zero, or oh if it flows better
# - hash (for Perl/shell comments), sharp (for music and C#)
" - double quote, quotation mark
' - single quote, apostrophe
`` - double backtick, open quote
` - backtick
* - star, times
2^x - 2 to the x
2! - 2 factorial
!true - not true
!=, *, += - I say the operation, then equals.
& - bitwise and
| - pipe, bitwise or
||, && - just what they mean: or, and.
( ) - parens
[ ] - brackets, or square brackets if the distinction is important
{ } - braces, or curly braces
< > - angle brackets, or less-than and greater-than
cond ? exp1 : exp2 - pronounce cond like a question, say exp1, say "else", say exp2
a[0] - a sub zero
- - hyphen, minus
-- - to (when used in a range context: 2004--2007)
--- - dash

The only Greek letter that I say often is theta, which I pronounce (incorrectly) theeta.

[shill]

The only Greek letter that I say often is theta, which I pronounce (incorrectly) theeta.

What? Theeta is entirely correct.

[GMontag]

I hate to bring up an old topic, but I just found out that #! is pronounced "shebang"

e.g., #!usr/bin/perl

I just thought this is interesting and wanted to add it to the conversation

"shebang" is a contraction of "sharp-bang", i.e. #(sharp)!(bang).

The only Greek letter that I say often is theta, which I pronounce (incorrectly) theeta.

What? Theeta is entirely correct.

I've never heard theeta. Its thay-ta.

[SpitValve]

The only Greek letter that I say often is theta, which I pronounce (incorrectly) theeta.

What? Theeta is entirely correct.

I did some Ancient Greek papers, and it's apparently supposed to sound more like thayta. Plus the "th" is actually an aspirated "t", not an English "th" sound.

But people are still arguing about that sort of thing, so do what you want

[GMontag]

Also, I think everyone should be using the INTERCAL naming convention for punctuation characters:

http://www.progsoc.uts.edu.au/~sbg/intercal/intercala.html

[Briareos]

I've always pronounced char as "care" -- again, because of the word "character."

And I've always said phi as "fee."

Here's my question, though:

ln

As a math concentrator, I'm in the habit of just saying "log," because why would you take a log to the base of anything besides e? But some people get really confused by that.

I've also heard "L.N." and my personal non-favorite, "lawn."

[zenten]

char - charred wood
GIF - hard G
javac - javak
C++ - see plus plus
C# - see sharp
= - equals
== - equals-equals
x / 2 - ecks divided by two
0 - zero, occasionally oh if I'm reading out a series of numbers with no meaning
# - it's contextual. Hash for low level stuff, and random symbol naming. Pound sign for pointing out what's on the keyboard. Sharp for music and C#. I don't come accross it much in other contexts
" - quotation, quotation mark
' - single quote, apostrophe
`` -double backtick
` - backtick
* - star, times
2^x - 2 to the x
2! - 2 factorial
!true - not true
!=, *, += - I say the operation, then equals.
& - and
| - pipe
||, && - pipe-pipe, and-and
( ) - bracket
[ ] - square bracket
{ } - braces, or curly brackets
< > -triangle brackets, or less-than and greater-than
a[0] - a zero

log - like the wood
ln - lawn

Oh, and my fiancée once had a calculus teacher who kept on saying things like "The leggative lumber approaches searso".

[DarkTimes]

char - character
GIF - hard g
javac - javak
C++ - see plus plus
C# - see sharp (it's only a hash cause there is no sharp key on most computers)
= - is assigned
== - equivalent to
x / 2 - x divided by two
0 - zero
# - hash
" - double quote
' - single quote
* - asterix
2^x - two to the x
2! - two factorial
!true - not true
!= not equivalent
+= hmm... not sure
& - bitwise and
| - bitwise or
|| - or
&& - and
( ) - brackets
[ ] - square brackets
{ } - curly braces
< > - angle brackets
a[0] - zero element of a
SQL - ess-qee-ell, which is the proper pronunciation

[|333173|3|_||3]

char - charred logs
GIF - jif
javac - javak (I know this is wrong, but it is more convienient to say it like this)
C++ - see plus plus
C# - see sharp
= - equals
== - equals (unles the distinction is important, when I will say "double equals", but most of the time the context makes it all clear.
.equals() - dot equals (a java function present in all Objects)
x / 2 - ecks over two or ecks on two
0 - nought if reffering to the number 0, zero if reffering to the value 0, and oh if reading out the number as a single character in a string.
# - Hash, except when used to represent the sharp sign. Never "pound", that I only use for the Sterling sign
" - double quote or quoteation mark
' - single quote, apostrophe, inner quote
`` -double backtick
` - backtick
* - asterisk, times (only when used in that context)
2^x - 2 to the x
2! - 2 factorial
!true - not true
!=, +=, -= - I say the operation, then equals.
& - single and (AND in Java), ampersand for the symbol itself
&& -double and, and (And with lazy evaluation in Java)
| - single or (programming), where (maths), bar (when talking to those who don't understand the other two)
|| - (double) or
( ) - bracket (maths), parenthesis elsewhere
[ ] - square bracket
{ } - braces, or curly brackets
< > -angle brackets
a[0] - a nought, the first element, at position zero

log - you burn it
ln - lin
SQL - sequel
$\theta$ - thee tah
ASCII - Ass Key
XOR - kzor
XNOR - kznor
WYSIWYG (or WYSIWY Might Just Get If You're Reall, Really Lucky and All Goes Well (WYSIWYMJGIYRRLAGW)) - Whizzy-Wig, mouse monkey fodder or just a bad idea. \rant{LaTeX}
^ - caret (hat when used as one)

[Arancaytar]

do you say java-c (java see) or ja-vac(ja vak)

i personally say it like the latter

Dzhavack here too.

Also:

char - car
GIF - gift
javac - javak
C++ - see plus plus
C# - see sharp
= - equals
== - equals equals (yes, weird)
x / 2 - ecks halves
0 - zero
# - hash
" - double quote
' - single quote
` - backtick
* - times, star (incorrect)
2^x - 2 to the x
2! - 2 factorial
!true - false (seriously, WhenTF is !true ever used?)
& - ampersand
&& -and
| - pipe
|| - or
( ) - parenthesis
[ ] - bracket
{ } - braces
< > -angle brackets
log - like the wood
ln - Ellen
SQL - Ess queue ell.
$\theta$ - thay tah
ASCII - Ass Key
XOR - ecksore
XNOR - ecksnore
WYSIWYG - wizzywig, or wussywig when feeling nasty.
^ - caret

[ehird]

javac = java sea
char = kar
car = kar
cdr = kuder
cadr = kahdar
caddadr = kahdaddader
gif = gif (not jif)
C++ = sea plus plus
c# = sea sharp
== = equals (if hello equals 2)
= = is (hello is 2)
# = hash
x/2 = x divided by 2
xor = zor
xand = zand
! = not
sql = ess queue ell (or squl if i'm talking fast)
linux = lye-nucks
() = parentheses (parens)
[] = brackets
{} = braces
<> = pointy brackets, or "those brackets", or "the other brackets" or "you know what i'm talking about damnit, the brackets that aren't the square brackets!"
| = "piped to" (cat hello piped to filter abc) or "pipe" (a pipe b) or "bitwise or" (2 bitwise or 3)
sudo = sue dough
5² = 5 to the power of 2
!= = not equals
x ? y : z = y if x else z (NO, AM NOT PYTHON STEAL!)
ascii = ass key (give me it)
+= = plus equals
-= = minus equals
. = concat or a pause (new Object().sayHello() -> new Object, say hello)
.= = concat equals
5! = five factorial
#! = shebang
++ increment _ (x[i++] = 4; -> element increment i of x is 4)
-- = decrement _ (*(i--)++; -> increment dereference decrement i)

[Mat Cauthon]

javac : ja vak
char : car (as in automobile)
car : car (as in automobile)
cdr : coulder
cadr : cadder (as in one who uses CAD?)
caddadr : cadadder
gif : hard g, like gift
C++ : "see" plus plus
c# : "see" sharp
== : double equals
= : equals
# : hash
x/2 : x by 2
x*2 : x times 2
xor : "ecks-or"
xand : "ecks"-and
! : not (or factorial )
sql : as individual letters
linux : lye-nucks
() : parentheses (parens)
[] : brackets/square parens/square braces
{} : curly/squiggly braces/brackets
<> : angle brackets
| : pipe or or, depending on context
sudo : psuedo
5² : 5 to second
!= : not equals
x ? y : z : if x then y else z (although for some reason I HATE the ?: shorthand, I always write it out)
ascii : ass ski
+= : plus equals
-= : minus equals
. : dot (or period, contextually, but in terms of method calls or whatever, dot)
.= : I've never used this syntax but I guess I'd call it dot-equals
5! : five factorial (FIVE! if I'm feeling random)
#! : shebang (well, after reading this thread!)
++ : plus plus
-- : minus minus
' : single quote (or apostrophe if properly escaped, contextually)
" : quote
""" or ''': triple quotes
& : and
log : as the round wood thing, burns nicely
ln : either "Lan" or "ell - enn", I'm inconsistent
theta : thay-ta
WYSIWYG : wissywig
^ : carrot or to the, contextually
a[0],a[1] : a-zero, a-one (or the first element in a, the second element in a)
Delphi : "dell-fye"
Phi : fye
Pi : pie (does anyone not do this?)
£ : Pounds
psi - sigh


Also, I know someone who insists in pronouncing multithreading "multi-threeding".

[shapierian]

char: with the ch from chair
GIF: jiff
javac: java-see
C++: C plus plus
C#: C-Sharp
#: Hash
=: Equals
==: Equals Equals or Double Equals
===: Triple Equals
a/b: "a slash b" in a programming context, "a over b" in all other context, exception: when not programming and a=1, "one on b"
": quote or quotation marks
': apostrope
`: Back tick
*: star
!: bang when programming (unless it's in a string literal), factorial as a factorial, exclamation point elsewhere
#!: hash bang
xor: zor
^: carrot

(): Parentheses
[]: brackets or square brackets
{}: Braces or set brackets when referring to set notioan

&: and when programing, ampersand elsewhere
&&: and and
|: pipe when used as a pipe, otherwise or
||: or or
<<: left shift in programing else "less than less than"
>>: right shift in programing else "greater than greater than"

sql: S-Q-L
linux: linucks
sudo: sue dough, though like dooku is starting to sound appealing
stdio: stuh die oh
cp: C-P
mv: M-V
rm: R-M
mkdir: makedir
chown: chown like chair, all one word
ls: L-S
pwd: P-W-D
iconv: Icon V
xargs: zargs
ps: P-S
/mnt: mount
/usr: user
/lib: with a short i
-march: mark
-mtune: M Tune
-mcpu: M-C-P-U
-mno-*: M No *
-malign-*: malign
-Wall: wall
-funroll-*: fun roll
-fomit-*: fom it (short o) *
-O3: Oh 3

[fatnickc]

How do you pronounce cout and cin?

I go for 'kout' (as in 'out') and 'sin' (as in 'he is a sinner').

[evilbeanfiend]

cee-out and cee-in personally.

also id have to go with

'xor' == 'eks or' given its from exclusive or

[mountaingoat]

how about euler

[parsonsb]

i say it like you-ler

also n! is n(shouted)

[mrkite]

how about euler

Oiler.

[blob]

how about euler

Oiler.

Yep, that's the German pronunciation.

[Sc4Freak]

I pronounce "char" as in "charcoal". It's how Bjarne Stroutrup pronounces it, anyway.

http://www.research.att.com/~bs/bs_faq2.html#char

[maafy6]

Consistency is totally overrated.

char: car
char*: tchar star (ie like charred)
GIF: gif
javac: javak
C++: C plus plus
C#: C-Sharp
#: pound or sharp
=: Equals
==: Equals or Equals Equals

a/b: "a over b"
": quote or quotation marks
': apostrope
`: Back tick
*: star
!: not, bang, or factorial depending on context
#!: shebang
xor: x-or
^: carat or to-the

(): Parentheses
[]: brackets or square brackets
{}: Braces

&: and when programing, ampersand elsewhere
&&: and and
|: pipe
||: or
<<: much less than (no pronunciation when programming)
>>: much greater than (no pronunciation when programming)

sql: S-Q-L
SQLServer: sequel server
linux: lih-nihcks (same 'i' as in 'in')
sudo: psuedo
stdio: standard i o
cp: C-P
mv: move
rm: R-M
mkdir: makedir
chown: c-h-own
chmod: c-h-mod
ls: L-S
pwd: P-W-D
xargs: ecks-args
ps: P-S
/mnt: mount
/usr: user
/lib: with a short i

theta: thay-tuh
iota: yoh-tuh
xi: zie
tau: tow (like house)
phi: fie
chi: kie
psi: sigh

Euler: Oiler
Schroedinger: Shray-deeng-er (I had a physics prof always say Shroe-dihn-jerr, that was annoying)

[quintopia]

char = "chair"
javac = "jinks"
GIF = "jif"
xi = "zie"

the rest I pronounce the way that most others are saying.


there should really be a poll about this. . .

[blob]

<<: much less than (no pronunciation when programming)
>>: much greater than (no pronunciation when programming)

Sometimes those are left shift or right shift.

[maafy6]

<<: much less than (no pronunciation when programming)
>>: much greater than (no pronunciation when programming)

Sometimes those are left shift or right shift.

I know what they are, but if I saw (bob << mary) in a line of code, I wouldn't pronounce them.

[duaneb]

'char' is pronounced 'char', as in 'charred.' Why on earth would I pronounce it like it's a motorized vehicle?

[lysandra]

do you say java-c (java see) or ja-vac(ja vak)

i personally say it like the latter

(Capitalised correctly) - mod

either "java see" or "havoc", but the latter is usually just in my head

[Berengal]

'char' is pronounced 'char', as in 'charred.' Why on earth would I pronounce it like it's a motorized vehicle?

Because it's short for character.

[photosinensis]

<<: much less than (no pronunciation when programming)
>>: much greater than (no pronunciation when programming)

Sometimes those are left shift or right shift.

And when you're in C++, they're pronounced "stream insertion operator" and "stream extraction operator", respectively.