Thread: vs

vs

From
Bruce Momjian
Date:
Can someone clarify when we should use <command> and when we should use
<application>?  I see postmaster used with application, but psql and
createdb used with command.  Is this correct?

--
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
  pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Re: vs

From
Tom Lane
Date:
Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:
> Can someone clarify when we should use <command> and when we should use
> <application>?

More generally, what are the standard set of markup tags that should be
used?  I know that I tend to overuse <literal>foo</> because I'm not
clear on the alternatives like <type>, <envar>, <option>, yadda yadda.
It'd help if there were a list somewhere.

            regards, tom lane

Re: vs

From
Bruce Momjian
Date:
> Bruce Momjian writes:
>
> > Can someone clarify when we should use <command> and when we should use
> > <application>?  I see postmaster used with application, but psql and
> > createdb used with command.  Is this correct?
>
> >From "DocBook: The Definitive Guide":
>
> | Command -- The name of an executable program or other software command
> |
> | This element holds the name of an executable program or the text of a
> | command that a user enters to execute a program.
>
> | Application -- The name of a software program
> |
> | The appelation "application" is usually reserved for larger software
> | packages--WordPerfect, for example, but not grep. In some domains,
> | Application may also apply to a piece of hardware.
>
> One could think of psql as a separate "application", but postmaster is
> certainly a command only.
>
> I'm not sure why, given the definition, <command> is put out in bold.
> Monospaced would make more sense to me.  <application> could be a remote
> candidate for bold.

Actually, postmaster seems bigger to me that psql.  Are the outputs for
the two tags output differently?  If so, we better use them
consistently.

--
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
  pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Re: vs

From
Peter Eisentraut
Date:
Bruce Momjian writes:

> Can someone clarify when we should use <command> and when we should use
> <application>?  I see postmaster used with application, but psql and
> createdb used with command.  Is this correct?

From "DocBook: The Definitive Guide":

| Command -- The name of an executable program or other software command
|
| This element holds the name of an executable program or the text of a
| command that a user enters to execute a program.

| Application -- The name of a software program
|
| The appelation "application" is usually reserved for larger software
| packages--WordPerfect, for example, but not grep. In some domains,
| Application may also apply to a piece of hardware.

One could think of psql as a separate "application", but postmaster is
certainly a command only.

I'm not sure why, given the definition, <command> is put out in bold.
Monospaced would make more sense to me.  <application> could be a remote
candidate for bold.

--
Peter Eisentraut   peter_e@gmx.net


Re: vs

From
Peter Eisentraut
Date:
Tom Lane writes:

> More generally, what are the standard set of markup tags that should be
> used?  I know that I tend to overuse <literal>foo</> because I'm not
> clear on the alternatives like <type>, <envar>, <option>, yadda yadda.
> It'd help if there were a list somewhere.


At docbook.org you can download (read online, buy, ...) "DocBook: The
Definitive Guide", which contains introductions to SGML, XML, DocBook,
stylesheets, plus a complete reference of all elements, what they're for
and what can go where.  I use it nearly every day.

As for what tags to use, it's difficult to keep track of the over a
hundred elements that DocBook has, but "when in doubt, use <literal>"
seems like a reasonable thing to do and it seems to fit the idea of the
element.

One day we might want to add some tags that fit our domain better, such as
<sqlcode> or <databaseobject>.

--
Peter Eisentraut   peter_e@gmx.net


Re: vs

From
Bruce Momjian
Date:
> Bruce Momjian writes:
>
> > Can someone clarify when we should use <command> and when we should use
> > <application>?  I see postmaster used with application, but psql and
> > createdb used with command.  Is this correct?
>
> >From "DocBook: The Definitive Guide":
>
> | Command -- The name of an executable program or other software command
> |
> | This element holds the name of an executable program or the text of a
> | command that a user enters to execute a program.
>
> | Application -- The name of a software program
> |
> | The appelation "application" is usually reserved for larger software
> | packages--WordPerfect, for example, but not grep. In some domains,
> | Application may also apply to a piece of hardware.
>
> One could think of psql as a separate "application", but postmaster is
> certainly a command only.
>
> I'm not sure why, given the definition, <command> is put out in bold.
> Monospaced would make more sense to me.  <application> could be a remote
> candidate for bold.

I see both <command> and <application> SGML tags is used for the
following items in our current CVS:

    createdb
    cvs checkout
    ecpg
    gcc
    gzip
    initdb
    pg_dumpall
    pgtclsh
    postmaster
    ps
    psql
    sed
    ssh
    strace
    sysctl
    tcsh

--
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
  pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Re: vs

From
Bruce Momjian
Date:
OK, Peter, can I clean these up?  Seems like a quiet time to do that.
Are applications things you interact with, like psql, while commands are
things like grep and createdb?

In reading the definition below, I thought PostgreSQL was an
application, while psql and postmaster were both commands.  You type
psql and postmaster, but not PostgreSQL.  That would fit with the
WordPerfect comment.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Bruce Momjian writes:
>
> > Can someone clarify when we should use <command> and when we should use
> > <application>?  I see postmaster used with application, but psql and
> > createdb used with command.  Is this correct?
>
> >From "DocBook: The Definitive Guide":
>
> | Command -- The name of an executable program or other software command
> |
> | This element holds the name of an executable program or the text of a
> | command that a user enters to execute a program.
>
> | Application -- The name of a software program
> |
> | The appelation "application" is usually reserved for larger software
> | packages--WordPerfect, for example, but not grep. In some domains,
> | Application may also apply to a piece of hardware.
>
> One could think of psql as a separate "application", but postmaster is
> certainly a command only.
>
> I'm not sure why, given the definition, <command> is put out in bold.
> Monospaced would make more sense to me.  <application> could be a remote
> candidate for bold.
>
> --
> Peter Eisentraut   peter_e@gmx.net
>
>

--
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
  pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026