4 ms·

I hate how often I need to use words like “stack”, “anti pattern” and “key value store” so people believe I know my stuff. I feel like a tech bro.

yulker 4y ago
What other terminology might better describe those concepts? These seem to be technical terms that describe specific things. Unless using them in an unrelated context (e.g. describing your pantry as a key value store), these seem relevant.
- leokennis 4y ago
  * stack → (depending on context): server, operating system etc. * anti pattern → bad design * key value store → (almost always) database
  - marcosdumay 4y ago
    > stack → (depending on context): server, operating system etc On that context, "stack" means exactly the set of all those things and a few more. You can't replace it by any one of those things. The alternative is enumerating all of them (that's what people used to do), what is bad (that's why people coined the "stack" term). > anti pattern → bad design Hum... Now are you talking about software architecture, UI, UX, communications design? Your replacement is confusing. > key value store → (almost always) database It is an specific kind of database, with performance characteristics that are completely different from the relational databases that the "database" word alone implies.
  - zeroxfe 4y ago
    This is kinda making a pretty good case for the jargon. :-)
wink 4y ago
I'm still looking for a good alternative term than "use case" without resorting to a whole sentence trying to ask what the person needs solving or how the thing is going to be used. Doubly so in German.
- dragonsky 4y ago
  Why not just ask "what problem are you trying to solve?", or "What do you want it to do?"?.. Not only does this put the requirement back on the asker to describe what they want you to do, it removes your preconceptions from the request. A mistake I often see myself making is that as soon as I get asked to do something I stop listening and start planning how I'm going to implement the solution. In many cases my preconceived solution will not solve the actual problem, because I've not actually found what the problem is that needs to be solved. In many cases the requester doesn't really know what they are asking for and will need some prompting to actually think it through. This requires a discussion, rather than a simplistic request to define "use case".

yulker 4y ago

What other terminology might better describe those concepts? These seem to be technical terms that describe specific things. Unless using them in an unrelated context (e.g. describing your pantry as a key value store), these seem relevant.

leokennis 4y ago
* stack → (depending on context): server, operating system etc. * anti pattern → bad design * key value store → (almost always) database
- marcosdumay 4y ago
  > stack → (depending on context): server, operating system etc On that context, "stack" means exactly the set of all those things and a few more. You can't replace it by any one of those things. The alternative is enumerating all of them (that's what people used to do), what is bad (that's why people coined the "stack" term). > anti pattern → bad design Hum... Now are you talking about software architecture, UI, UX, communications design? Your replacement is confusing. > key value store → (almost always) database It is an specific kind of database, with performance characteristics that are completely different from the relational databases that the "database" word alone implies.
- zeroxfe 4y ago
  This is kinda making a pretty good case for the jargon. :-)

wink 4y ago

I'm still looking for a good alternative term than "use case" without resorting to a whole sentence trying to ask what the person needs solving or how the thing is going to be used. Doubly so in German.

dragonsky 4y ago
Why not just ask "what problem are you trying to solve?", or "What do you want it to do?"?.. Not only does this put the requirement back on the asker to describe what they want you to do, it removes your preconceptions from the request. A mistake I often see myself making is that as soon as I get asked to do something I stop listening and start planning how I'm going to implement the solution. In many cases my preconceived solution will not solve the actual problem, because I've not actually found what the problem is that needs to be solved. In many cases the requester doesn't really know what they are asking for and will need some prompting to actually think it through. This requires a discussion, rather than a simplistic request to define "use case".