Skip to main content
Software Engineering

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

Required fields*

9
  • 1
    "IFF" looks like an initialism to me, not the short form actually meant. Commented Nov 20, 2024 at 8:58
  • @MisterMiyagi: There are exceptions to the rule, indeed. But since there is no definitive non-modifiable list of all initialisms, we can create initialisms of our own, if there is no risk of ambiguity. So if the documentation is not about file formats on Amiga, and is not about military / combat / competition stuff, then IFF can stand for iff. Or you can find another way, as I already wrote in the answer. Commented Nov 20, 2024 at 9:04
  • " Or you can find another way, as I already wrote in the answer." I am still looking for one that works in isolation without presupposing the knowledge that iff is a "word". Even the variations with defining it on first use / glossary requires people to actually read those first. Perhaps linking to a glossary would do? Commented Nov 20, 2024 at 9:17
  • @MisterMiyagi: and what is the difference between "link" and "specifying at least one reliable source (e.g., a dictionary)" ? Commented Nov 20, 2024 at 10:38
  • 1
    If "iff" absolutely must be used and cannot be replaced by the more usual English terms, then using capitals, bold, italics, or some other form of emphasis feels a good idea for a term which is so easily taken to be a typo. It makes it a little clearer that this is a deliberate usage, particularly after the second or third instance, and it hints to the user that they can look in the definitions section. It should definitely be defined, either on first use with a pointer from the index, or in a definitions section, as it's not a safe assumption that every reader will have encountered the term. Commented Nov 21, 2024 at 3:34