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Re: Deprecated (was When is it too much information?)
Subject:Re: Deprecated (was When is it too much information?) From:"Peter Neilson" <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:16:37 -0500
As I recall, the term "deprecated" has been in use for decades in the
software-standards business. Here is some research.
A recent discussion about deprecation at the IETF gives this advice:
"Except being unused was not part of the rationale for deprecating PTR.
The rationale was that it didn't work well, was unreliable, and was
unnecessary. Unused didn't figure into it at all. There's no
inconsistency here. I think it's within the charter to deprecate (but not
remove) anything we conclude is technically a bad idea, used or not."
In scientific publication a century earlier, the use of "deprecated" in
the sense of "to be avoided" occurs in 1898 in the index of The Quarterly
Journal of the Geological Society of London, Volume 54, on page 669:
'Primary,' use of term deprecated, 99, 100.
From page 99:
The President congratulated the Author on his important communication and
asked whether there was any fossil evidence to show the age of the beds
under those of Permo-Carboniferous age. The unconformities were important,
and might indicate that there were rocks in the area older than those of
Palaeozoic age. Would it not be better to avoid using the term 'Primary'
for crystalline rocks suggested to be of 'Archaean' age?
Similarly, from 1897, the term "Eolithic" is deprecated in "The ancient
stone implements, weapons and ornaments of Great Britain"
by Sir John Evans. The book's index refers to non-existent page 762, but
the act of deprecation is on page 702. The aforementioned JGSL lists Sir
John as a member of the Society's Council. He or his indexer seems to have
favored--excuse me--favoured the word deprecated.
The sense was then and is now "previously suggested but now ought not be
used." It is precise, technical, und nicht fuer die Kinder. Excuse me--not
for the general and ungeeked audience.
On Thu, 21 Feb 2013 01:43:37 -0500, Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca> wrote:
But deprecated has a deeper meaning than "not used". The actual
definition
that Peter [Hirons] gave was that deprecated refers to a feature or
function that
has worked in the past, is still used, with the possibility that they may
be removed in the future.
One painful deprecation was the means for Mac OS X to run Power PC-based
apps. For at least 6 point revisions, developers were warned to
code apps as Universal binaries, yet several held out. Then out rolled
Mountain Lion and a whole series of current software now no longer works.
This may have started in Lion, but as I skipped from Snow Leopard to
Mountain Lion I was affected immediately.
Deprecation is necessary for advancement. But it doesn't mean no longer
used.
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