can != may
one is ability, the other permission
When we were first taught English grammar, yes. Today, not so much.
Actually pretty much never. In modern usage, the distinction has been lost.
I must be ancient then as I still use this distinction (and similarly
would/could).
yep. let's stick to hacking our own documents, not the english
language.
further, quoting barry:
The trouble with the first approach (using all caps as 2119 terms, and
using the same words in lower case as normal English) isn't so much
that someone might be confused later, but that during development and
review we're not sure whether you meant to put the word in all caps,
and just forgot.
and when i say a field is 42 bits long, you don't know if i really meant
41.
just address the document, do not try to guess intent. life is already
sufficiently complex.
randy