When I turn off a program, sometimes I "quit", sometimes I "close",
and sometimes I "exit".

Is this a matter of taste and programmer's whim, like choosing a
typeface, or do the different words mean different things?

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

On 10/13/23 1:48 AM, Joy Beeson wrote:
>
> When I turn off a program, sometimes I "quit", sometimes I "close",
> and sometimes I "exit".
>
> Is this a matter of taste and programmer's whim, like choosing a
> typeface, or do the different words mean different things?
>
>

I think of closing as removing a specific activity. You close a
connection, process, or window, which doesn't necessarily imply quitting
or exiting from the whole program.

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

On 13/10/2023 16:48, Joy Beeson wrote:
>
> When I turn off a program, sometimes I "quit", sometimes I "close",
> and sometimes I "exit".
>
> Is this a matter of taste and programmer's whim, like choosing a
> typeface, or do the different words mean different things?
>
>
I - as an ancient as grizzled UNIX guru - think like this:

quit - don't save whatever I have been doing and stop the program.

close - just stop doing whatever the program does, which may stop the
program.

exit - save what I have done and stop the program.

Cheers,
Gary B-)

In article <ggmhiih2fe7b79snupu13p142juvdaoa06@4ax.com>,
Joy Beeson <jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:
>
>When I turn off a program, sometimes I "quit", sometimes I "close",
>and sometimes I "exit".
>
>Is this a matter of taste and programmer's whim, like choosing a
>typeface, or do the different words mean different things?

[Hal Heydt]
On the IBM 1620 in FORTAN IID, one ended a program with the
statement "CALL EXIT". That would return control to the system
monitor. If you end with "STOP", the whole system would halt.

In article <ugb2iu$33gpm$1@dont-email.me>,
Gary McGath <garym@mcgath.com> wrote:
>On 10/13/23 1:48 AM, Joy Beeson wrote:
>>
>> When I turn off a program, sometimes I "quit", sometimes I "close",
>> and sometimes I "exit".
>>
>> Is this a matter of taste and programmer's whim, like choosing a
>> typeface, or do the different words mean different things?
>>
>>
>
>I think of closing as removing a specific activity. You close a
>connection, process, or window, which doesn't necessarily imply quitting
>or exiting from the whole program.

[Hal Heydt]
Or you close a file.

On 10/13/2023 04:27, Gary McGath wrote:
> On 10/13/23 1:48 AM, Joy Beeson wrote:
>>
>> When I turn off a program, sometimes I "quit", sometimes I "close",
>> and sometimes I "exit".
>>
>> Is this a matter of taste and programmer's whim, like choosing a
>> typeface, or do the different words mean different things?
>>
>>
>
> I think of closing as removing a specific activity. You close a
> connection, process, or window, which doesn't necessarily imply quitting
> or exiting from the whole program.
>

That's not wrong -- but one "closed" programs before they were routinely
associated with windows, so it's not the full explanation.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/
Words Over Windows http://WordsOverWindows.dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/

On 10/13/2023 10:09, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> In article <ggmhiih2fe7b79snupu13p142juvdaoa06@4ax.com>,
> Joy Beeson <jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> When I turn off a program, sometimes I "quit", sometimes I "close",
>> and sometimes I "exit".
>>
>> Is this a matter of taste and programmer's whim, like choosing a
>> typeface, or do the different words mean different things?
>
> [Hal Heydt]
> On the IBM 1620 in FORTAN IID, one ended a program with the
> statement "CALL EXIT". That would return control to the system
> monitor. If you end with "STOP", the whole system would halt.

Wait, since when did the 1620 have any sort of "system monitor"? Neither
of the ones I used did.

--
David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/
Words Over Windows http://WordsOverWindows.dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/

In article <ugbtmc$39vku$2@dont-email.me>,
David Dyer-Bennet <dd-b@dd-b.net> wrote:
>On 10/13/2023 10:09, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>> In article <ggmhiih2fe7b79snupu13p142juvdaoa06@4ax.com>,
>> Joy Beeson <jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>> When I turn off a program, sometimes I "quit", sometimes I "close",
>>> and sometimes I "exit".
>>>
>>> Is this a matter of taste and programmer's whim, like choosing a
>>> typeface, or do the different words mean different things?
>>
>> [Hal Heydt]
>> On the IBM 1620 in FORTAN IID, one ended a program with the
>> statement "CALL EXIT". That would return control to the system
>> monitor. If you end with "STOP", the whole system would halt.
>
>Wait, since when did the 1620 have any sort of "system monitor"? Neither
>of the ones I used did.

[Hal Heydt]
MONITOR IID. The 1620 in question also had a removable pack HDD.
2MB capacity. The actual code generated CALL EXIT was 4900796 (or
BR 796), which was the return point in MONITOR IID.

On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 12:09:12 -0500, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:

> On 10/13/2023 04:27, Gary McGath wrote:
>> On 10/13/23 1:48 AM, Joy Beeson wrote:
>>>
>>> When I turn off a program, sometimes I "quit", sometimes I "close",
>>> and sometimes I "exit".
>>>
>>> Is this a matter of taste and programmer's whim, like choosing a
>>> typeface, or do the different words mean different things?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> I think of closing as removing a specific activity. You close a
>> connection, process, or window, which doesn't necessarily imply
>> quitting or exiting from the whole program.
>>
>>
> That's not wrong -- but one "closed" programs before they were routinely
> associated with windows, so it's not the full explanation.

At this point I would bet that any pre-windows-era program
that used "close" to exit would have the closing of files
as its last action. That is, the programmer, consciously or
not, made the association.

Gary McGath <garym@mcgath.com> wrote:
> Joy Beeson wrote:
>> When I turn off a program, sometimes I "quit", sometimes I "close",
>> and sometimes I "exit".

>> Is this a matter of taste and programmer's whim, like choosing a
>> typeface, or do the different words mean different things?

Thanks for asking. I'm glad to see discussion here that has nothing
to do with Doctor Who.

> I think of closing as removing a specific activity. You close a
> connection, process, or window, which doesn't necessarily imply
> quitting or exiting from the whole program.

I've long considered "open" (and, by extension, "close") in a computer
context to be a perfect example of what Ayn Rand calls an "anti-concept,"
i.e. something that causes confusion by conflating unrelated concepts.

How can one interact with a file? If it's a text file, you can
display it as text on the screen so you can read it. If it's an audio
file, you can play it through speakers or headphone so you can hear
it. If it's a still photo or a video you can view it as an image on
the screen. If it's an executable file, i.e. a compiled program, you
can run it. These are very different actions. Placing them under a
single word leads to confusion over things such as whether there's any
risk from "opening" an email. I never want to "open" an email; I want
to either view its text on my screen or copy it to another location.
Very rarely, I might want to print its text to paper or to take some
action with an attachment it contains.

I never ever want the computer to figure out, based on what's in the
email, what to do with it (other than discarding it as spam). For
instance just because it has an executable attachment doesn't mean
I want that program to run. That would be like my finding a random
discarded hypodermic needle on the sidewalk and injecting myself with
it because that's what one does with hypodermic needles.

To "close" an email, or other file, is even more ambiguous. ("Quit,"
to me, means to cause a program to stop running.)

I strongly dislike pop-ups that give me unclear choices. Often, one
of the choices, or even the only choice, is "OK." Is *what* okay?
What exactly am I consenting to or agreeing with by clicking there?
In some cases I've gone as far as rebooting the machine to avoid
having to click on "OK."
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.