5 ms·

I heartily agree. Ligature fonts and the word "performant" belong in the same circular filing cabinet, marked "not as clever as it seems".

jimmaswell 5y ago
Performant: well-performing. There's nothing wrong with the word.
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  Don't feel too bad. Everyone has to be wrong about something. Luckily for you it's something small like this ;-)
  - nkozyra 5y ago
    What am I missing? https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/performant https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/perfo...
    - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
      > What am I missing? My joke? (I always forget how HN is hostile to whimsy. Even when it is carefully signposted with an emoticon.) Just to add though: a word making its way into a dictionary is no guarantee of its usefulness, correctness or value. It only means a couple of definitions have been found in print. That's the standard by which words make it into dictionaries; there's no semantic gatekeeper.
      - nkozyra 5y ago
        You're qualifying my response as "hostile?" I guess we're getting into fluid definitions, so sure :) I'm not sure calling someone wrong accompanied with an emoticon qualifies as whimsical, either. All that said, "correct" in language is "incorrect" tomorrow. That's how it's always worked. If I learned to accept "entitled" as meaning "given a title" I'm sure we can all handle a fairly terse and parseable usage for performant.
        unfocussed_mike 5y ago
        > You're qualifying my response as "hostile?" No, not you -- that was exasperation at the sudden, aggressive downvoting of what was clearly signposted as a joke. > I'm not sure calling someone wrong accompanied with an emoticon qualifies as whimsical, either. It was as clearly whimsical as I can make it. Complimenting on being wrong on something so small. But you're just making my point for me. I genuinely forget this place hates jokes that don't come with footnotes. > If I learned to accept "entitled" as meaning "given a title" I'm sure we can all handle a fairly terse and parseable usage for performant. "Never give up! Never surrender!"
        nkozyra 5y ago
        I think the issue is less jokes than posts without enough context to live on their own. I've seen plenty of humorous posts received well here when they're not jokes for the sake of the joke.
        unfocussed_mike 5y ago
        Fair point.
- petepete 5y ago
  It was only added to the OED in 2018 after being misused in tech for fifteen or so years. Originally a performant was someone who'd performed in something (similar to combatant). Unfortunately it stuck.
  - nkozyra 5y ago
    Why is it unfortunate? The English language is built on an endless supply these mutations.
    - petepete 5y ago
      Just taste really, it sounds wrong to me. On the scale of new words I dislike, it's nothing compared to how football pundits describe players as 'unplayable' when they're on form.
      - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
        On a scale of new words I dislike, it's actually more annoying to me than "revert back" meaning "get back to you on that", which has a wry charm. Mind you, I am still annoyed by people saying "addicting" when they actually mean "addictive", or "concerning" when they mean "a cause for concern". So I'm really not a good judge. But it still has to go in the circular filing cabinet.
        1123581321 5y ago
        If we were better at keeping -ive suffixed words, we could have had concernive instead to shorten that phrase without misusing -ing. :)
        unfocussed_mike 5y ago
        Now you're just trying to upset me. ;-)
        5y ago
ojintoad 5y ago
I remember when I saw the access operator "->" for the firsr time written as just a single connected right pointing arrow on a whiteboard as part of my first intro to programming class and being so confused about what button I was missing on my keyboard!
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  IBM used to have a specific keyboard for APL programmers :-) Go big or go home.
- bmn__ 5y ago
  The key (vulgo button) is not missing, merely the legend (vulgo labelling). In X, you can either press AltGr + i or Compose, -, >.

jimmaswell 5y ago

Performant: well-performing. There's nothing wrong with the word.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
Don't feel too bad. Everyone has to be wrong about something. Luckily for you it's something small like this ;-)
- nkozyra 5y ago
  What am I missing? https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/performant https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/perfo...
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    > What am I missing? My joke? (I always forget how HN is hostile to whimsy. Even when it is carefully signposted with an emoticon.) Just to add though: a word making its way into a dictionary is no guarantee of its usefulness, correctness or value. It only means a couple of definitions have been found in print. That's the standard by which words make it into dictionaries; there's no semantic gatekeeper.
    - nkozyra 5y ago
      You're qualifying my response as "hostile?" I guess we're getting into fluid definitions, so sure :) I'm not sure calling someone wrong accompanied with an emoticon qualifies as whimsical, either. All that said, "correct" in language is "incorrect" tomorrow. That's how it's always worked. If I learned to accept "entitled" as meaning "given a title" I'm sure we can all handle a fairly terse and parseable usage for performant.
      - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
        > You're qualifying my response as "hostile?" No, not you -- that was exasperation at the sudden, aggressive downvoting of what was clearly signposted as a joke. > I'm not sure calling someone wrong accompanied with an emoticon qualifies as whimsical, either. It was as clearly whimsical as I can make it. Complimenting on being wrong on something so small. But you're just making my point for me. I genuinely forget this place hates jokes that don't come with footnotes. > If I learned to accept "entitled" as meaning "given a title" I'm sure we can all handle a fairly terse and parseable usage for performant. "Never give up! Never surrender!"
        nkozyra 5y ago
        I think the issue is less jokes than posts without enough context to live on their own. I've seen plenty of humorous posts received well here when they're not jokes for the sake of the joke.
        unfocussed_mike 5y ago
        Fair point.
petepete 5y ago
It was only added to the OED in 2018 after being misused in tech for fifteen or so years. Originally a performant was someone who'd performed in something (similar to combatant). Unfortunately it stuck.
- nkozyra 5y ago
  Why is it unfortunate? The English language is built on an endless supply these mutations.
  - petepete 5y ago
    Just taste really, it sounds wrong to me. On the scale of new words I dislike, it's nothing compared to how football pundits describe players as 'unplayable' when they're on form.
    - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
      On a scale of new words I dislike, it's actually more annoying to me than "revert back" meaning "get back to you on that", which has a wry charm. Mind you, I am still annoyed by people saying "addicting" when they actually mean "addictive", or "concerning" when they mean "a cause for concern". So I'm really not a good judge. But it still has to go in the circular filing cabinet.
      - 1123581321 5y ago
        If we were better at keeping -ive suffixed words, we could have had concernive instead to shorten that phrase without misusing -ing. :)
        unfocussed_mike 5y ago
        Now you're just trying to upset me. ;-)
        5y ago

ojintoad 5y ago

I remember when I saw the access operator "->" for the firsr time written as just a single connected right pointing arrow on a whiteboard as part of my first intro to programming class and being so confused about what button I was missing on my keyboard!

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
IBM used to have a specific keyboard for APL programmers :-) Go big or go home.
bmn__ 5y ago
The key (vulgo button) is not missing, merely the legend (vulgo labelling). In X, you can either press AltGr + i or Compose, -, >.