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Overloaded terms

The argument about linear power supplies brings up a point that probably deserves its own thread: the overloading of terms. In optics, there are a number of terms that are used in such completely different senses that, though they're familiar, they're hard to understand. ("Dichroic" is probably the leading candidate, although "defocus" is a strong second.)

The poster child for this in electronics is surely "linear". "Linear" voltage regulators take in nearly the same current that they give out, but otherwise they aren't linear in the sense of linear systems theory. The same is true of a lot of the other parts that used to be in any several publications called "linear databook". Linear vs. switching, linear vs. digital, linear vs. anything using discrete time, unless it could be disguised, e.g. switched cap filters and chop amps.

Any other terms that need a spring cleaning?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC 
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 

160 North State Road #203 
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 USA 
+1 845 480 2058 

hobbs at electrooptical dot net 
http://electrooptical.net
Reply to
Phil Hobbs
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deserves

terms

familiar,

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using

chop

Well, "sci.electronics.design" is the obvious one. Otherwise "Organic" and "Natural" pop to mind. Art

Reply to
Artemus

)

What needs spring cleaning is your idea of how language works. Our understa nding of what most words mean is highly context-dependent.

Most professions have a couple of thousand words that they use idiosyncrati cally.

I got my nose rubbed in this back when I was learning Science Russian from a linguist, but it's obvious enough. When talking as a chemist I use the wo rds "substitute" and "substituent" to mean something rather different from what I mean when I'm using them in regular English. Physicists have a simil arly idiosyncratic take on the difference between speed (in any direction) and velocity (in a specific direction).

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
Bill Sloman

The "Liberal" word comes to mind. The "Terrorist" word, too.

VLV

Reply to
Vladimir Vassilevsky

"Charge"

--

John Larkin                  Highland Technology Inc 
www.highlandtechnology.com   jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com    

Precision electronic instrumentation 
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators 
Custom timing and laser controllers 
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links 
VME  analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer 
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators
Reply to
John Larkin

Cash.

--
Tim Wescott 
Control system and signal processing consulting 
www.wescottdesign.com
Reply to
Tim Wescott

"state", when I have my control-engineering hat on and I'm trying to talk to a software engineer about implementing a control algorithm.

"stability", which means something very specific in the context of linear dynamic systems, becomes fuzzy when you're talking about nonlinear dynamic systems, and changes meaning altogether when you're discussing the behavior of a ball in a bowl on a boat.

--
Tim Wescott 
Control system and signal processing consulting 
www.wescottdesign.com
Reply to
Tim Wescott

Teddy Roosevelt, as in Arsenic and Old Lace ?>:-} ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
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I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

Leave my credit card out of this!!!

Reply to
Robert Baer

Democracy?

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Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply 
indicates you are not using the right tools... 
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) 
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Reply to
Nico Coesel

"3G" vs. "4G" ??

Reply to
mpm

)

"Solutions" (newspeak for "products")

"Issue" (newspeak for "bug," "defect," and/or "problem.")

--
Cheers, 
James Arthur
Reply to
dagmargoodboat

Il 11/05/2013 14:17, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com ha scritto:

What's the correct use of the term issue?

Marco

Reply to
Marco Trapanese

"Marco Trapanese = TROLL " snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com hascritto:

** Giant HUH ??

You really are one completely illiterate, wog moron.

Fuck off.

Reply to
Phil Allison

Good luck finding a programmer who has any meaningful idea of "state", other than the one he lives in.

--

John Larkin                  Highland Technology Inc 
www.highlandtechnology.com   jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com    

Precision electronic instrumentation 
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators 
Custom timing and laser controllers 
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links 
VME  analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer 
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators
Reply to
John Larkin

It's heavily overloaded with several other meanings, e.g. bonds "issue," your children are the "issue" of your loins, and "Time magazine, January issue."

In this abused content, "issue" is properly a point of discussion, contention, or something to be discussed. e.g. "There's an issue concerning which is better, A or B."

When Internutz Exploder auto-loads yet another virus or Windows throws a BSOD that's not an "issue," it's a crime.

--
Cheers, 
James Arthur
Reply to
dagmargoodboat

Those are two good candidates--'state' especially is analogous to 'dichroic', which means (a) any inhomogeneous material that manages to be wavelength-selective, (b) anything polarization-based, e.g. the colours you get from putting Saran Wrap between crossed polarizers; (c) polarization selective, e.g. Polaroid film, (d) based on thin films, e.g. an interference filter, or (e) something depending on the dispersion of linear or circular birefringence. The meanings obviously shade into one another, so that any of them is defensible, but different terms would be better because the total range is so very broad.

(With all peace to Bill and his no doubt involuntary didactifussitude, there are lots of these terms that frustrate communication rather than promoting it, which is the point of the thread. Jargon is often ugly, so it should at least be clear.)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC 
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 

160 North State Road #203 
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 

hobbs at electrooptical dot net 
http://electrooptical.net
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

Those are excellent examples too, Phil. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Reply to
Phil Hobbs

How does Microsoft avoid legal liability for their horrendously crappy software?

formatting link 

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com 

Precision electronic instrumentation 
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators 
Custom laser drivers and controllers 
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links 
VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro   acquisition and simulation
Reply to
John Larkin

)

I'm late to the game, but I'll nominate saturation. Too much laser light and I saturate an atomic transition, but I might not see it if the gain on the Photodiode is too high and it saturates, there may even be some transistors saturating in my PD opamp..

I haven't touched magnetics yet..

George H.

Reply to
George Herold

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