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Would "code extract" be acceptable?
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thank you . yes a very good term . assuming of course it was indeed extracted .
kind regards
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extract is a very good term when used as noun.
but the terms snippet and sample would be understood equally as well.
def: noun
something extracted.
a passage taken from a book, article, etc.; excerpt; quotation.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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You remind me of a high school English teacher I had (circa 1981) who railed against the over-use of the word "awesome" at that time.
modified 29-Dec-23 12:16pm.
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I'm with him/her on awesome - the Oxford vs Cambridge boat race is oarsome  <groan>
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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BernardIE5317 wrote: i have finally found what i believe is a superior term
Not that I see.
From google
Specimen: an example of something such as a product or piece of work, regarded as typical of its class or group
snippet: a small piece or brief extract.
The correct usage for the second would be when one presents code which cannot, by itself, successfully compile.
And to my mind, as with the definition, implies that is 'small'.
Consider the 'specimen' in the following
Largest and heaviest animals - Wikipedia[^]
"with the largest known specimen being 33.6 m (110.2 ft) long and the largest weighted specimen being 190 tonnes"
That is using the word to refer to an entire animal. (Not small.) And it implies the possibility that other specimens might exist which could be larger.
Following is a paper related to programming which is using 'specimen' which fits the definition above also but which presumably also provides code that can compile. (Pay wall I believe but synopsis provides information.)
A specimen of parallel programming: parallel merge sort implementation: ACM Inroads: Vol 1, No 4[^]
modified 29-Dec-23 12:14pm.
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Or a specimen may simply be something (whole or in part) to be studied, examined, or tested. They have jars for that.
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Exactly. Imagine going for a job interview and being asked to provide a specimen ...
(Maybe it's just a UK thing, but the above phrase almost inevitably implies of wee.)
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At least that wouldn't be misogynist as well as weird.
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DerekT-P wrote: Maybe it's just a UK thing
And in the US.
But some jobs do require that.
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greetings kind regards
from Miriam Webster :
a : an individual, item, or part considered typical of a group, class, or whole
b : a portion or quantity of material for use in testing, examination, or study
'b' suits my purpose as stated i find the term utilized upon discussion / study of brief samples / specimens of code intended to be exemplar of more general usage .
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BernardIE5317 wrote: from Miriam Webster
Well if you will use a foreign dictionary ... 
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Quote: 'b' suits my purpose as stated i find the term utilized upon discussion / study of brief samples / specimens of code intended to be exemplar of more general usage
Maybe you should have used the example given as a guide - the portion in question is not a unique portion. In order to count as a specimen, using the example given in the section you quote, it must be identical or consistent with the whole from which the specimen was taken.
b: a portion or quantity of material for use in testing, examination, or study
a urine specimen
I'm guessing that English isn't your first language from the incorrect phrasing of "exemplar" (which is a noun) and should be "an exemplar of". I can understand, then, why you would consider "specimen" to be related to "snippet".
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thank you for the correction to my incorrect usage . one such error and you deduced i am from Mars . perhaps my green complexion gave it away .
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Quote: thank you for the correction to my incorrect usage . one such error and you deduced i am from Mars . perhaps my green complexion gave it away .
Well, on the internet it's not rare to read posts from people who don't have English as a primary language.[1]
And it's not like I leapt to conclusions after just
one such error
Look at it from the point of view of a native English speaker: you misunderstood the dictionary definition of "specimen" even with the explanatory example given in the dictionary that you quoted, and you misunderstood the usage of "exemplar".
I meant no disrespect by assuming English was not your primary language; I'd expect a similar response if I, in my secondary language, confused two unrelated terms and used a third term incorrectly, all in the space of a single paragraph.
[1] I myself am bilingual, and I know that I make trivial errors when speaking in my second language (first is English). I don't automatically jump to accusations that the other party, who's a native speaker in that language, considers me an alien.
PS. Have you typed "what is the difference between a snippet and a specimen?" into an English-language LLM? After all, it's a Large Language Model, so something like ChatGPT is going to easily be able to provide the difference in meaning between two extremely common words.
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Member 13301679 wrote: Well, on the internet it's not rare to read posts from people who don't have English as a primary language.[1]
In my working group many years ago, there was Robert, born and raised in Norway but with a Scottish mother. Then there was Linda, born and raised in England; she came to Norway a couple years earlier. And there was Ellen, Norwegian born and raised, but she had for 30 years worked as a top level secretary, responsible for the external correspondence of large multi-national corporations in the US and France.
Robert claimed that it was very easy to hear that Ellen is not a native English speaker - because she spoke it perfectly! She would never make those "errors" (due to sloppiness, laziness or whatever) that every native speaker makes in his native tongue, in any language. Every now and then he pointed out something Linda said, "Ellen would never have said that! It is not perfect English, the way she speaks". Yet, to most people Linda sounded perfectly like an Englishman (as she was!).
Another story from that same group: There were two other guys there, Alex from Australia and John from USA. I was going to make a presentation to customers, and was preparing some "PowerPoints" (it wasn't really PPT, but similar). One constant problem when switching between Norwegian and English. I wasn't sure that I had picked the right one, so I went to British Linda's cubicle to ask her. No, rather than xxx, you should rather use yyy! This was overheard by the Australian Alex, who protested: No, you should use zzz! The disagreement caught USA John's attention, who got up and insisted: The correct would be www!
The three native English speakers were on the border of going into a fistfight over this (the only thing they could agree about was that my initial proposal was not the right preposition to use), and the group leader had to interfere to calm down the argument. I most certainly learned from this that anyone who claims something to be The Correct Wording in English is a person not to be trusted in English language matters.
And it does affect my reading of this thread
(Unfortunately, I do not remember neither my first, ditched, proposal nor the three alternatives - it is too long ago. It really doesn't matter for the point of the story.)
Religious freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make five.
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I doubt specimen will catch on. It implies something kept behind glass to prevent damage/contamination. When teaching something you do not want to distance your audience from the code in any way.
You have already used probably the best word - sample.
You could also use example.
I doubt any of these words will get common use though.
Unfortunately the term snippet has become entrenched in some peoples minds as the correct term for a short piece of code.
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Quote: Unfortunately the term snippet has become entrenched in some peoples minds as the correct term for a short piece of code.
I think the problem the OP is going to run into is that "snippet" already had a meaning decades before the first computer was even invented, and it's the same meaning as used for code as it was used for newspapers.
If the word had a different meaning in the context of computers, OP might have a point, but right now arguing that a well-defined word with well-defined meaning should mean something else when computers are involved is difficult, and it is doubly hard when the replacement is another existing word with a completely unrelated meaning.
If I were propose "I don't like the word 'content' in the context of programming, I think we should replace it with 'automobile'", I'd expect similar confusion from my audience as OP is getting.
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Unfortunately "specimen" already has a meaning in English, and it means "An example of $CATEGORY".
The phrase "the following specimen of C++" would literally mean "The following content is an example of C++ programming", while "the following snippet of C++" means "The following content is only a portion of a whole C++ program".
You are going to find it difficult to get people to agree to overload an existing well-defined word with a new unrelated meaning.
I'm not saying it's impossible to assign new made-up meanings to existing words, I'm just saying that's it's an uphill battle with low likelihood of success, especially in the case of overloading a well-defined and universally understood word.
What you propose is no different from proposing that the word 'and' is replaced by the word 'green'. You'll just confuse people when you say "Me green my brother went out green got snacks".
modified 2-Jan-24 5:15am.
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re/ "... a portion of a whole C++ program" in my encounters w/ the term i could find no whole program anywhere in sight .
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BernardIE5317 wrote: re/ "... a portion of a whole C++ program" in my encounters w/ the term i could find no whole program anywhere in sight .
Well, obviously not. When someone says "here's a snippet", why would they post the whole program? If they were showing the whole program they wouldn't say "here's a snippet", would they?
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re/ "... the whole program ..." what whole program ? where is this "whole" program of which you so confidently speak ? as per article link below nowhere in site or even indication thereof therewith thereupon .
Structured bindings in C++17, 5 years later - C++ Stories[^]
here is a snipppet of code : return; let us examine and discuss it in all its detail . is this proper usage of the term ?
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Well, the only place it uses the word snippet is when referring to a shot piece extracted from a longer example:
Quote: In the above snippet, we bind to myPair. But this also means you can provide support for your classes, assuming you add the get<n> interface implementation. See an example in the later section.
You are using the word snippet to refer to return, but the article uses the word example liberally for the code it presents.
"Snippet" has always meant "a part taken out of a larger whole". Specimen has always meant "a representative sample of a category".
Try this with a Large Language Model:
Quote:
User
What does "analyse this specimen" mean?
ChatGPT
"Analyze this specimen" is a directive to closely examine and evaluate a particular object, sample, or subject. The word "specimen" refers to a representative example or sample of something, often used in scientific contexts. When someone asks to analyze a specimen, they are typically requesting a detailed examination, assessment, or study of the given object or sample to gain insights, draw conclusions, or gather information. The nature of the analysis can vary based on the context, such as scientific research, medical diagnosis, forensic investigation, or any other field where a careful examination is required.
User
What does "analyse this snippet" mean?
ChatGPT
"Analyze this snippet" is a request to examine and evaluate a specific, usually small portion or excerpt of something, such as code, text, data, or any other content. The term "snippet" refers to a brief and typically representative section of a larger whole. When someone asks you to analyze a snippet, they are asking you to closely examine that particular portion to understand its details, identify patterns, extract information, or gain insights relevant to a specific context.
For example, in programming, you might be asked to analyze a code snippet to find errors, understand its functionality, or suggest improvements. In a literary context, analyzing a text snippet could involve examining its language, themes, or literary devices. The nature of the analysis depends on the specific domain or context in which the snippet is presented.
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std::pair myPair(0, 1.0f);
auto [a, b] = myPair; re/ "Snippet" has always meant "a part taken out of a larger whole".
please show where the above "snippet" is present in a larger whole as i am unable to find it .
re/ "Specimen has always meant "a representative sample of a category"."
that is precisely what the "specimen" is as it is representative of the use of structured bindings to classes .
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