APL Wiki:Content guidelines: Difference between revisions

Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Dialect-specific pages)
Line 52: Line 52:
In a dialect-specific article, you can assume (because you have told the reader) that the reader knows the page pertains to one APL only. This means it's acceptable to use terms like [[Disclose]] that are ambiguous in general but have only one meaning in the context of that APL, or terms like [[tradfn]] that many parts of the APL community don't use. Despite this, your primary aim should be to make the article useful for a general reader, who might never have heard of this APL. Use terminology which would be most readable for the wider APL community while remaining intelligible from the specific dialect's perspective. If there is no single term that fits, use a dialect-specific one but clarify by mentioning an identical or analogous term in parentheses.
In a dialect-specific article, you can assume (because you have told the reader) that the reader knows the page pertains to one APL only. This means it's acceptable to use terms like [[Disclose]] that are ambiguous in general but have only one meaning in the context of that APL, or terms like [[tradfn]] that many parts of the APL community don't use. Despite this, your primary aim should be to make the article useful for a general reader, who might never have heard of this APL. Use terminology which would be most readable for the wider APL community while remaining intelligible from the specific dialect's perspective. If there is no single term that fits, use a dialect-specific one but clarify by mentioning an identical or analogous term in parentheses.


For articles about a specific dialect (such as [[A+]]), the emphasis is in the other direction: '''always give a language's preferred terminology on its own page''' when there is a clear preference. In order to make the page usable for general APL programmers, clarify terminology which is not obvious in parentheses: for example, the page on [[K]] lists the function "flip ([[Transpose]])".
For articles about a specific dialect, not just pertaining to it (such as [[A+]] or [[Dyalog APL versions]]), the emphasis is in the other direction: '''always give a language's preferred terminology on its own page''' when there is a clear preference. In order to make the page usable for general APL programmers, clarify terminology which is not obvious in parentheses: for example, the page on [[K]] lists the function "flip ([[Transpose]])".


Use the principle of [[#Due weight|due weight]] when deciding whether and how to link to a dialect-specific article elsewhere on the APL Wiki. If a concept is closely related to a better known one, it probably deserves a link, but the link should be in a less prominent position if the dialect with that concept is obscure. Less closely related concepts or non-obvious connections (for example, [[Raze]] is a left inverse of [[Partition]] and [[Partitioned Enclose]] on vectors) may or may not merit a link.
Use the principle of [[#Due weight|due weight]] when deciding whether and how to link to a dialect-specific article elsewhere on the APL Wiki. If a concept is closely related to a better known one, it probably deserves a link, but the link should be in a less prominent position if the dialect with that concept is obscure. Less closely related concepts or non-obvious connections (for example, [[Raze]] is a left inverse of [[Partition]] and [[Partitioned Enclose]] on vectors) may or may not merit a link.