Modification note (7/1/2003)
I just thought I'd clear this up to avoid a mod-war. IDL stands for Interface Definition Language, *not* Interface "Description" Language. It was recently changed incorrectly to the latter. I've put it back the way that it was. See the CORBA spec p 3-1.
-- Derek
CORBA/Common object request broker architecture
68.167.249.197 23:44, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC): I'd suggest that it is standard practice to have the main article body for CORBA/Common object request broker architecture to be under the fully expanded version of the name (cf. Remote procedure call/RPC, and File transfer protocol/FTP to name two examples).
- That's right! I am sexy 23:46, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
- I would argue that File transfer protocol should be moved to FTP, though Remote procedure call should stay as it is. This is because there is not just one file transfer protocol. Having a page title like "File transfer protocol" or "Common object request broker architecture" implies that there is more than one - for example - "a file transfer protocol is..." or "a common object request broker architecture", whilst "an FTP" or "a CORBA" is less appropriate. Dysprosia 06:40, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
- 68.167.249.2 09:02, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC): Admittedly "file transfer protocol" can be generically used, but I disagree about "common object request broker architecture" which has established itself as a specific standard. That is emphasized outside of wikipedia by capitalizing all the words. Additional examples, like OSI, DNS, SNMP, LAN, FDDI, SMTP, ICMP, RARP all redirect to the full words, though HTTP doesn't.
an exception proving the rule; disambig COBRA and CORBA
68.167.249.197 00:03, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC): One good standard practice within wikipedia is to not disambiguate misspellings. I agree that this is a good guideline to follow. As I also note at Talk:COBRA, I would contend that COBRA vs. CORBA is a case where the exception proves the rule. This is a case of two five-letter acronyms, which is unusual. For two acronyms of that length (and, to get perhaps overly analytical about it, the fact that B and R are both typed by the left index finger on a QWERTY keyboard), isn't a reasonable to anticipate our audience would appreciate such a disambiguation here? I would never advocate disambiguation for TLAs. but this seems a case where a good rule has a reasonable exception.
- 68.167.249.2 09:02, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC): Dysprosia's suggestion elsewhere of a disambiguation block prefacing the CORBA page seems like the best of both worlds to resolve this.