Rohit and Mike Masnick and I were browsing in Printer's, Inc. in Mountain
View and Rohit spotted the Sun Computer Style Guide. After realizing that
this was a English Style Guide from Sun Computer (and not a guide to Style
as exemplified by Sun Computers), I looked and realized that I probably
should get such a book, since I occasionally wonder whether I should write
Mb/s or Mbit/s or Mbit/sec or Mbps. But of course, being the good boy I am,
I decided to wait until I could order from the FoRK recommended book list.
Sure enough, there is a recommended style book (recommended by you): _Wired
Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age_. Wired??? I of course
check out the Amazon reviews and many of them are very negative. Does this
book *really* recommend spelling SIGGRAPH as Siggraph???
At any rate, I found two books that looked more promising by searching in
Amazon:
1. Read Me First! : A Style Guide for the Computer Industry
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0134553470/forkrecommendedrA/>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0134553470/forkrecommendedrA/
2. The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1556159390/forkrecommendedrA/>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1556159390/forkrecommendedrA/
The first book is, I believe, the Sun book we saw in Printer's Inc. The
second is Microsoft's book. Has anyone worked with either of these books?
Are there good alternatives I missed? Obviously, right now I'm learning
towards the Microsoft book, although I guess I could always buy both.
But back to beating up on Adam. Why did you pick the Wired Style book? I
mean, Wired is a greatly amusing magazine -- I even subscribe to it -- but
its style is as self-dating as pink-and-black tiled bathrooms or poodle
skirts or all-white disco outfits or...
- Joe
Joseph S. Barrera III <joebar@acm.org>
<http://research.microsoft.com/~joebar/>
Phone, Office: (415) 778-8227; Cellular: (415) 601-3719; Home: (650)
588-4801
Microsoft Research (BARC), 301 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-6605
The opinions expressed in this message are my own personal views and do not
reflect the official views of Microsoft Corporation.