Sorry I'm trying to improve my English but progresses are really logarithmic at this point...
Well also the fact that I try to write this blog posts in very little time (it took me two hours at max, probably even a mother tongue should alloc more time to end with an high quality blog post) does not help either.
Your English is great. I'm a native speaker, and reading your post, I thought you were too. A slightly sloppy one with a couple odd turns of phrase, but perfectly clear and comprehensible. I understood the quoted parts just fine.
That said, please don't make excuses about how little time you spent on it. It might be true, but it shows lack of respect for your audience. Like code, if it's worth writing at all, it's probably worth writing well.
Thank you nkurz, sorry about the excuses about little time, I did not argumented it enough: the fact is that I really love to share what I'm doing using blog posts, so I tend to work hard to achieve something that's worth sharing, but then I'm so excited about sharing it that I write the post as fast as possible!
I should try to resist some more hours in order to obtain a post that is more consistent and easy to follow... instead I tend to push the "publish" button and even when the post is already live I continue fixing it... Thanks for the comment!
> "Stressing scalability so much put somewhat in shadow what in the 80's was one of the most interesting meters of software coolness [...]"
This parses correctly, just with difficulty. It's not exactly a garden path sentence, but it has several small key words which, if missed, lead to a failed parse.
Not really. And he means 'metrics' not 'meters'.
You can understand it, sure, with a bit of effort. But 'correct' it isn't.
Anyway, my point is not to send the guy to study English instead of doing whatever it is he prefers doing. But if you write in public, just get some help proofreading. Despite what the other defensive people on this thread are saying, good, clear communication matters and helps.
Not really. And he means 'metrics' not 'meters'. You can understand it, sure, with a bit of effort. But 'correct' it isn't.
A "meter" is, among other things, "a measure, gauge, or criterion"; and in this way it can take the place of "metric". Idiomatic it certainly is not; but it is correct.
No, it isn't 'non-idiomatic', it's just wrong. You could perhaps find some obsolete or highly technical usage but 'can take the place of metric' is simply inaccurate, in the context and usage. Take a look at
We can both cite dictionaries. My quote came from the OED, which is a far more exhaustive index of English usage than Webster. (Deliberately so: The OED was intended to be descriptive, while Webster believed that dictionaries should instead be prescriptive.)
The modern Webster is not intended to be prescriptive. 'meter' in the sense you are describing is just not part of modern usage. Finding some obscurity or archaism in the OED does not make a lousy sentence 'correct', that's all.
Wrong again (as you've been this whole thread): we use meter in that sense all the time: "gas meter" (both the name of the thing that measures the natural gas usage by a household and the thing that measures the remaining gasoline in a car) uses "meter" in that sense.
I'm thankful he took the time to learn english and wrote this post in english, because lord knows I have not bothered to learn HIS language, and would not be able to read it if he hadn't.
So, a few turns of phrase, or whatever, who cares? I understood it, and I was able to understand it because HE is not as LAZY as I AM! (and went out and learned english.)
"Stressing scalability so much put somewhat in shadow what in the 80's was one of the most interesting meters of software coolness [...]"
"Unfortunately I also think that our dude is part of the problem, since running crappy benchmarks is not going to help our pop culture."
"Apple to Apple, with the same mouth"