5 ms·
>I'll be calling a "ternary digit" a "trit", like a "binary digit" is called a "bit". Shouldn't it be a "tit" if you want to be consistent? In fact, please let
by sigmoid10 2y ago
>I'll be calling a "ternary digit" a "trit", like a "binary digit" is called a "bit".
Shouldn't it be a "tit" if you want to be consistent? In fact, please let's make that happen. The HR execs are gonna go crazy when they hear the devs talking about tits all day.
- greatgib 2y agoJust for your knowledge, in french "bit" sounds exactly like the word for "dick" that is "bite"...
- jgtrosh 2y agoWait till you learn what the french pronunciation of bit sounds like
- foxyv 2y agoThey were talking about tits and killing children! I think we have a satanic cult in our IT department.
- koolba 2y ago“And then he said the way to become a demon was to kill his parent!”
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- zamadatix 2y agoIt's a joke comment but it made me realize people see the "bit" shortening coming about differently. It could be any one of (and maybe even more, I just had to stop thinking about this before I ended up spending all day on it): - BInary digiT [BIT] - BInary digIT [BIT[ (i.e. "merge on the shared vowel") - Binary digIT [BIT] That's consistent with the common usage of trit if you take it as a "trinary digit": - TRInary digiT [TRIT] - TRInary digIT [TRIT] - TRinary digIT [TRIT] But if you're one to stick to ternary digit then you can end up with all sorts of unique combos: - TErnary digiT [TET] - TErnary digIT [TEIT] (no shared vowel to merge on) - Ternary digIT [TIT] (the above humor) Personally, the middle options for the first 2 sections (BIT and TRIT via shared vowel) are what I always mentally jumped to. If I was going to stick with "ternary" terminology I think, from a pure mapping of mental mechanics, I'd have ended up on TET (i.e. when there is no shared vowel assume the vowel was from the first word instead of the 2nd). The problem with that being TET conflicts with base 4, leaving you with either the awkward double vowel or the awkward end vowel pull. Or just calling it a trinary digit where you get the same consistency results as from BIT. Thank you for coming to my TED talk (the things a hacker thinks about while burning their PTO I suppose?)
- beng-nl 2y agoI look forward to your thesis.
- sigmoid10 2y agoNice analysis, but you missed the most obvious one, which is also what I was deriving from in the above comment: Pronunciation. The "i" in "bit" is pronounced exactly like the second "i" in "digit" and not like the "i" in "binary", which sounds more like the "i" in bite. So the "it" in "bit" has to come from digIT. Consequently, the most logical shortening for "Trinary digIT" must be TIT.
- zamadatix 2y agoThat's the "Binary digIT [BIT]" line. Do you always go based on the input sounds rather than output reading or just sometimes though? E.g. for special weapons and tactics do you say it like you would in "the cat swat at the toy" or more akin to "sw@" (same first half but then "at" for the second half because the 'a' comes from a short 'a'?). Of course, just for GIF alone I wouldn't mind your method was the universally obvious way... but now I might as well talk about religion and politics too!
- pjturpeau 2y agoI think it should better be "tet".
- NelsonMinar 2y agoOr call it a trit, avoid the juvenile joke, and respect decades of computer science history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ternary_numeral_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ternary_numeral_system reply
- fsckboy 2y agobut there are no "trits" in his scheme, he's using base 343 represented in base 2, from which trits can be extracted through a reasonably laborious conversion. also, bits have the dual nature of being boolean logic values, and integers (in fact, arithmetic is done by logic). Bits deserve the honor of their name, and pretenders to the throne are hoping for stolen valor.
- hinkley 2y ago243. Which is 3^5.
- sigmoid10 2y agoA more mathematically rigorous implementation might consider the incompleteness theorems and actually need a third option between true and false (i.e. undecidable). There are non-Boolean algebras out there, such as Kleene's. So us seeing Boolean algebra as the king is mostly a historic outgrowth, not a fundamental truth.
- alt187 2y agoTit tit tit.
- jamamp 2y agoIf you thought random bit flips were bad, wait until you get random tit flips.
- raydiak 2y agoLinguistically, I can see the arguments on both sides. But to me, the much lower level of tongue dexterity required to speak the three-letter version vs. adding in the r is substantial. To be clear, I'm not actually advocating for it in the context of contemporary cultural norms and slangs. Objectively speaking though, one is physically a much simpler movement to speak than the other, much closer to the physical simplicity of "bit". I readily notice this as someone who stutters and underwent various speech therapy as a child, then later in life lost three upper incisors to a car accident and had to retrain himself how to pronounce certain sounds. Not saying that should be a dominant coefficient in the evaluation, just that physical reality is something to consider and acknowledge with some nonzero weight.
- Findecanor 2y agoI have a friend who is into bird-watching who once managed to tweet "I wish more people would know how to appreciate great tits" (Parus major). Personally, I'm fascinated by boobies (especially Sula nebouxii).