Foreign-write questions!

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Zepper
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Foreign-write questions!

Post by Zepper »

1. The emulated game image on screen. If saved to a bitmap file (BMP), we have a "snapshot" or a "screenshot"? :?
2. "File name" or "filename"? Nametable or Name table?
3. Emulation "halted" or emulation "killed" (regarding an unofficial opcode or "KIL")?
4. "File mygame.txt saved to c:\myfiles" OR "File mygame.txt has been saved to c:\myfiles?

I'm not english native. -_-;;
Bavi_H
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Re: Foreign-write questions!

Post by Bavi_H »

1. I think either screenshot or snapshot could work, but screenshot will be understood more.

In the Commodore 64 era, "snapshot" can refer to saving the state of memory. There are "freezer cartridges" that can save a "snapshot" of the computer memory. So if someone familiar with the Commodore 64 looks at the word "snapshot", maybe there might be a small moment of confusion as they figure out if it means "screenshot" or "memory save state"?

On the other hand, VLC Media Player has a camera icon button it its Advanced toolbar that says "Take a snapshot" when you hover over it.


2a. Although I often use "filename" myself, if you look in a Save or Open dialog box in the English version of Windows, it says "File name" in front of the box where you type the file name, so maybe that's the more correct version to use.


4. To me, "saved to" has more of an abbreviated feel to it than "has been saved to". Maybe I might say "File A saved to B" in a status bar where space or attention span is limited, and say "The file "A" has been saved to "B"." in the final page of a wizard dialog box confirming that everything is done, where more complete sentences might be used.
lidnariq
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Re: Foreign-write questions!

Post by lidnariq »

Zepper wrote:3. Emulation "halted" or emulation "killed" (regarding an unofficial opcode or "KIL")?
"Killed" in response to that instruction is a little jargon-y. "Halted" is better, but doesn't explain that it's unrecoverable.

FCEUX calls that instruction "JAM" and that state "jammed".
4. "File mygame.txt saved to c:\myfiles" OR "File mygame.txt has been saved to c:\myfiles?
"saved to" and "has been saved to" are different tenses. In this context they're both acceptable.

"saved to" is the simple past.
"has been saved to" is the present perfect.

Wikipedia, in classical verboseness, says:
wikipedia:Uses of English verb forms § Present perfect wrote:
The choice of present perfect or past tense depends on the frame of reference (period or point in time) in which the event is conceived as occurring. If the frame of reference extends to the present time, the present perfect is used. For example:

I have written a letter this morning. (if it is still the morning)
He has produced ten plays. (if he is still alive and professionally active)
They have never traveled abroad. (if they are still alive and considered capable of traveling)

If the frame of reference is a time in the past, or a period that ended in the past, the past tense is used instead. For example: I wrote a letter this morning (it is now afternoon); He produced ten plays (he is now dead or his career is considered over, or a particular past time period is being referred to); They never traveled abroad (similarly). [...] The simple past is generally used when the occurrence has a specific past time frame – either explicitly stated (I wrote a book in 1995; the water boiled a minute ago), or implied by the context (for example, in the narration of a sequence of events). It is therefore normally incorrect to write a sentence like *I have written a novel yesterday; the present perfect cannot be used with an expression of past time such as yesterday.

With already or yet, traditional usage calls for the present perfect: Have you eaten yet? Yes, I've already eaten. However, current informal American speech tends to use the simple past: Did you eat yet? Yes, I ate already.

Use of the present perfect often draws attention to the present consequences of the past action or event, as opposed to its actual occurrence. The sentence she has come probably means she is here now, while the simple past she came does not. The sentence, “Have you been to the fair?” suggests that the fair is still going on, while the sentence, “Did you go to the fair?” could mean that the fair is over.
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gauauu
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Re: Foreign-write questions!

Post by gauauu »

Bavi_H wrote:1. I think either screenshot or snapshot could work, but screenshot will be understood more.

In the Commodore 64 era, "snapshot" can refer to saving the state of memory. There are "freezer cartridges" that can save a "snapshot" of the computer memory. So if someone familiar with the Commodore 64 looks at the word "snapshot", maybe there might be a small moment of confusion as they figure out if it means "screenshot" or "memory save state"?
I'd definitely use "screenshot" when talking about an emulator, as my first assumption of "snapshot" would be the save state that Bavi_H is referring to.
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rainwarrior
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Re: Foreign-write questions!

Post by rainwarrior »

1. Screenshot is far more common in my experience.

2. I think it's better to use the compound forms ("nametable" instead of "name table") for stuff like this. They are well understood, and it makes the specific term less ambiguous than separating it into component words does.

3. Halted is fine. Killed has a more violent connotation.

4. I'd generally suggest using the simple form. They're both fine to a native English reader, but I think the simpler version might help comprehension for non-native readers, and it's not so simple that it would seem awkward to the native reader either.
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Re: Foreign-write questions!

Post by tepples »

lidnariq wrote:
Zepper wrote:3. Emulation "halted" or emulation "killed" (regarding an unofficial opcode or "KIL")?
"Killed" in response to that instruction is a little jargon-y. "Halted" is better, but doesn't explain that it's unrecoverable.
Especially because HALT on LR35902 and Z80 does the same thing as WAI (wait for interrupt) on 65C02 and 65816. The closest thing to a WDC-official name for what the MOS 6502 does for most of column $02 is "stop", after the 65C02/65816 instruction STP that waits for a high-low-high cycle on /RESET.

"Saved to" can also be used as an abbreviation for a passive present perfect, with implied "The file has been". If it sounds correct when you replace it with "wrote to", it's simple past; if it sounds correct when you replace it with "written to", it's perfect or passive, possibly with implied auxiliaries.
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