3 ms·
It's a cute demo, but it's a timer, not a clock. </pedant>
by ogre_codes 6y ago
It's a cute demo, but it's a timer, not a clock. </pedant>
- reaperducer 6y agoIf you start it at noon, or midnight, it's a clock.
- c22 6y agoHow is a "timer" different from a "clock?"
- colejohnson66 6y agoBy definition, a timer just counts time (either down or up). So a clock is a kind of timer. But colloquially, a “clock” is a timer that shows the time while a “timer” is one that counts down from a preset amount (for cooking or whatever). Then there’s a “stopwatch” which is a timer that counts up from 0.
- ogre_codes 6y ago> while a “timer” is one that counts down from a preset amount (for cooking or whatever) I can see this POV, but this isn't really how I've thought of a "timer" myself. I've always thought a timer was just a thing which kept track of time elapsed (up or down). For example when I'm doing metrics I've always used "timers" to measure how quickly a program runs. I would never call a function which measures how long a process runs a stopwatch function, it would be a timer (or timing) function. Until I owned an iPhone I've always thought of a stopwatch as the literal physical thing.
- c22 6y agoBy both of your definitions this appears to be a clock. It starts at twelve, not at zero, and it wraps when it gets back to twelve again, making it pretty useless as a measure of elapsed time. For what it's worth I would define both a timer and a clock as something that ticks(/updates) at a fixed regular interval.
- ogre_codes 6y agoA clock tells me the time of day. A page which says 12:00:00 every time I go there isn't a clock in my book.
- c22 6y agoI get what you're saying, but have you never experienced a clock set to the wrong time? Is such a thing really no longer deserving of the title? What about clocks in different locales, are they not clocks for you but clocks for others? Is this demo a clock twice a day? You're the one claiming to be a pedant here.
- ogre_codes 6y agoI think you are taking my top post entirely too seriously.
- hibbelig 6y agoIn the old days you had to wind it and to set it. This one you don’t have to wind, only to set. That’s pretty good in my book!
- ogre_codes 6y agoYou can't set it. You can only start it at one of 2 correct start times. If you could set it, then at least it would have parity with VCR clocks.
- amenghra 6y agoI figured a timer usually counts down and has a start/stop button. A stopwatch counts up, but also has buttons. A clock it is.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]