5 ms·

Performant is a pretty common word in technology, and has been since at least 2003 when I first heard it. It's used in the same vein as "scaleable" - in both c

Performant is a pretty common word in technology, and has been since at least 2003 when I first heard it. It's used in the same vein as "scaleable" - in both cases, suggests the positive nature of the performance and scaling.

CyberRabbi 6y ago
Yes and I’ve been judging people negatively who have used it since then
- mlyle 6y ago
  Yah, screw anyone who's on the leading edge of linguistic drift! After all, if someone doesn't properly use the second-person singular pronoun of yore, they're an illiterate scoundrel! Language shouldn't change. I think your argument has been decimated (which means reduced by a literal 10%; metaphorical and drifting meanings of words are bad!)
  - CyberRabbi 6y ago
    I sincerely wish I understood what motivates so many people to defend poor language. Celebration for those who race to the bottom and condemnation of those who race to the top.
    - MaxBarraclough 6y ago
      What's wrong with this particular drift though? Presumably you don't hold that all linguistic drift is regrettable?
      - CyberRabbi 6y ago
        I’ve made no claim about “linguistic drift,” and I’ve explained many times in this thread why “performant” is in poor taste.
    - orf 6y ago
      The point is that people do not view it as poor language, they understand that it's a protocol for communication and as such it evolves/shifts across time and particularly across generations (Emojis are a great example of this), and view people that look down upon others for relatively benign infractions upon the timeless holy grail that is The Way The English Language Should Be Used as rather pedantic idiots who often bring more disruption to a conversation than clarity. There is no race to the top or the bottom. There is no race at all. Looking down on someone for their preferred set of words and the way they use them will only make you look bad and at the end of the day prevents you from communicating effectively with other members of your species. You should work on that.
      - fapjacks 6y ago
        Huh? I bet I could come up with a few words and a few different ways of using them that you'd look down on me for. I could probably do it in one word and one usage.
        mlyle 6y ago
        Even deliberately corrupting language can be joyous. My friends were all telling each other "chillax motherfuton" for awhile because of how it made another friend rage. :D
        orf 6y ago
        "relatively benign infractions" is the key part of my reply.
        fapjacks 6y ago
        You're doing the same thing that other dude is doing; you just think you're better.
      - CyberRabbi 6y ago
        No I think I’ll continue to judge people for their behavior. I also look down on people when they use “ain’t” instead of “aren’t” or when they don’t correctly conjugate their verbs. Being prevented from communicating with people who fail to speak proper English has little practical downsides and many upsides. Looking bad to those who fail to speak proper English is probably more of an upside as well. An apparent failure to speak English well is indistinguishable from an inability to speak English well. Demonizing intolerance of poor English does not help to improve anyone’s ability to communicate precisely and efficiently, it just seems to make people feel better about themselves. There’s nothing wrong with setting high standards for people unless you dislike excellence.
- Twirrim 6y ago
  Use of performant in relation to efficiency in this fashion goes back to at least the 60s, from a fairly cursory glance on https://books.google.com https://books.google.com. Starting with a few from the 70s: The IEEE from 1979: https://books.google.com/books?id=IJ4XAQAAMAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjM1dzPi6_vAhWWVs0KHdqYBmgQ6AEwBXoECAQQAg https://books.google.com/books?id=IJ4XAQAAMAAJ&q=%22performa... "It should be noted that the problem of scailing is considerably simplified from the fact that the operators dispose of greater ranges ( from 1 to 238 for l - 20 , instead of 1 to 104 for the more performant analog computers " We can even step outside of the electrical engineering community, here's a reference to it from the Iron and Steel society, in the same year: https://books.google.com/books?id=D9RaAAAAYAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiHsPqrjK_vAhXEaM0KHURAALY4ChDoATAEegQIAxAC https://books.google.com/books?id=D9RaAAAAYAAJ&q=%22performa... "As this cooling system revealed itself as unsufficiently performant , we have started with the study of literature in order to define if other more efficient equipments were available" We can push back to 1974, in relation to satellites in space: https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXHvAAAAMAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiC4MOwja_vAhXQXc0KHQTQDAU4KBDoATAEegQIABAC https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXHvAAAAMAAJ&q=%22performa... "So , the program is very descriptive in the effects development , and very performant . Furthermore , it has been compared with numerical integration at each step ( after the computation of each effect and each coupling )..." Or just a little further in relation to APL from the ACM: https://books.google.com/books?id=0qApAQAAIAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiC4MOwja_vAhXQXc0KHQTQDAU4KBDoATAIegQIBxAC https://books.google.com/books?id=0qApAQAAIAAJ&q=%22performa... "However , this theorical gain is nothing but an encouragement ; the execution phasis is very performant because , before it , a lot of preparation has been done during the deferment phasis : this should be taken into account in a realistic ..." So in the 60s, 1964: https://books.google.com/books?id=l1_vAAAAMAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwir14Crkq_vAhXMHc0KHbPUBLo4ChDoATAJegQICRAC https://books.google.com/books?id=l1_vAAAAMAAJ&q=%22performa... Such a progress comes partially from the availability of faster and larger computers and of more performant numerical methods . It is however important to remark that , at the same time , analytic progress has also been achieved , which is very ..." Australian Mechanical Engineer are using it in relation to the Wankel engine, https://books.google.com/books?id=rzIiAQAAMAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjD3Mask6_vAhXaPM0KHXFoC0g4jAEQ6AEwBnoECAYQAg https://books.google.com/books?id=rzIiAQAAMAAJ&q=%22performa... Judging from the uses I'm seeing in the Google search, it's a fair claim that Computer Science has been using "performant" in reference to efficiency and performance for most of its existence. Judging people for using a word in a way that has that much history in the field tends to reflect mostly on you.

CyberRabbi 6y ago

Yes and I’ve been judging people negatively who have used it since then

mlyle 6y ago
Yah, screw anyone who's on the leading edge of linguistic drift! After all, if someone doesn't properly use the second-person singular pronoun of yore, they're an illiterate scoundrel! Language shouldn't change. I think your argument has been decimated (which means reduced by a literal 10%; metaphorical and drifting meanings of words are bad!)
- CyberRabbi 6y ago
  I sincerely wish I understood what motivates so many people to defend poor language. Celebration for those who race to the bottom and condemnation of those who race to the top.
  - MaxBarraclough 6y ago
    What's wrong with this particular drift though? Presumably you don't hold that all linguistic drift is regrettable?
    - CyberRabbi 6y ago
      I’ve made no claim about “linguistic drift,” and I’ve explained many times in this thread why “performant” is in poor taste.
  - orf 6y ago
    The point is that people do not view it as poor language, they understand that it's a protocol for communication and as such it evolves/shifts across time and particularly across generations (Emojis are a great example of this), and view people that look down upon others for relatively benign infractions upon the timeless holy grail that is The Way The English Language Should Be Used as rather pedantic idiots who often bring more disruption to a conversation than clarity. There is no race to the top or the bottom. There is no race at all. Looking down on someone for their preferred set of words and the way they use them will only make you look bad and at the end of the day prevents you from communicating effectively with other members of your species. You should work on that.
    - fapjacks 6y ago
      Huh? I bet I could come up with a few words and a few different ways of using them that you'd look down on me for. I could probably do it in one word and one usage.
      - mlyle 6y ago
        Even deliberately corrupting language can be joyous. My friends were all telling each other "chillax motherfuton" for awhile because of how it made another friend rage. :D
      - orf 6y ago
        "relatively benign infractions" is the key part of my reply.
        fapjacks 6y ago
        You're doing the same thing that other dude is doing; you just think you're better.
    - CyberRabbi 6y ago
      No I think I’ll continue to judge people for their behavior. I also look down on people when they use “ain’t” instead of “aren’t” or when they don’t correctly conjugate their verbs. Being prevented from communicating with people who fail to speak proper English has little practical downsides and many upsides. Looking bad to those who fail to speak proper English is probably more of an upside as well. An apparent failure to speak English well is indistinguishable from an inability to speak English well. Demonizing intolerance of poor English does not help to improve anyone’s ability to communicate precisely and efficiently, it just seems to make people feel better about themselves. There’s nothing wrong with setting high standards for people unless you dislike excellence.
Twirrim 6y ago
Use of performant in relation to efficiency in this fashion goes back to at least the 60s, from a fairly cursory glance on https://books.google.com https://books.google.com. Starting with a few from the 70s: The IEEE from 1979: https://books.google.com/books?id=IJ4XAQAAMAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjM1dzPi6_vAhWWVs0KHdqYBmgQ6AEwBXoECAQQAg https://books.google.com/books?id=IJ4XAQAAMAAJ&q=%22performa... "It should be noted that the problem of scailing is considerably simplified from the fact that the operators dispose of greater ranges ( from 1 to 238 for l - 20 , instead of 1 to 104 for the more performant analog computers " We can even step outside of the electrical engineering community, here's a reference to it from the Iron and Steel society, in the same year: https://books.google.com/books?id=D9RaAAAAYAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiHsPqrjK_vAhXEaM0KHURAALY4ChDoATAEegQIAxAC https://books.google.com/books?id=D9RaAAAAYAAJ&q=%22performa... "As this cooling system revealed itself as unsufficiently performant , we have started with the study of literature in order to define if other more efficient equipments were available" We can push back to 1974, in relation to satellites in space: https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXHvAAAAMAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiC4MOwja_vAhXQXc0KHQTQDAU4KBDoATAEegQIABAC https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXHvAAAAMAAJ&q=%22performa... "So , the program is very descriptive in the effects development , and very performant . Furthermore , it has been compared with numerical integration at each step ( after the computation of each effect and each coupling )..." Or just a little further in relation to APL from the ACM: https://books.google.com/books?id=0qApAQAAIAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiC4MOwja_vAhXQXc0KHQTQDAU4KBDoATAIegQIBxAC https://books.google.com/books?id=0qApAQAAIAAJ&q=%22performa... "However , this theorical gain is nothing but an encouragement ; the execution phasis is very performant because , before it , a lot of preparation has been done during the deferment phasis : this should be taken into account in a realistic ..." So in the 60s, 1964: https://books.google.com/books?id=l1_vAAAAMAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwir14Crkq_vAhXMHc0KHbPUBLo4ChDoATAJegQICRAC https://books.google.com/books?id=l1_vAAAAMAAJ&q=%22performa... Such a progress comes partially from the availability of faster and larger computers and of more performant numerical methods . It is however important to remark that , at the same time , analytic progress has also been achieved , which is very ..." Australian Mechanical Engineer are using it in relation to the Wankel engine, https://books.google.com/books?id=rzIiAQAAMAAJ&q=%22performant%22&dq=%22performant%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjD3Mask6_vAhXaPM0KHXFoC0g4jAEQ6AEwBnoECAYQAg https://books.google.com/books?id=rzIiAQAAMAAJ&q=%22performa... Judging from the uses I'm seeing in the Google search, it's a fair claim that Computer Science has been using "performant" in reference to efficiency and performance for most of its existence. Judging people for using a word in a way that has that much history in the field tends to reflect mostly on you.