[Ffmpeg-devel] [PATCH] Print KB for 1024 bytes

Panagiotis Issaris takis.issaris
Thu Feb 15 15:13:49 CET 2007


Hi,

M?ns Rullg?rd schreef:
> Panagiotis Issaris said:
>[...]
>>>>>>>> Rejected.  The standard abbreviation for kilo is a lowercase k.
>>>>>> For kilo-1000 or kilo-1024? Currently, in the *same* message, k in
>>>>>> kB means 1024 and k in kbits/sec means 1000. They cant both be
>>>>>> right!
>>> They ARE both right.  That is the historical use of kilo when talking
>>> about bytes and bitstreams.  When specifying the size of RAM chips,
>>> kilo of course means 1024.  It's all in the context.
>> I do not think that the meaning of units should be context dependent.
> 
> They are.  Just accept it.
Units such as "s", "m", "g" and prefixes such as "M", "G", ... are _not_
context dependent. Why should "k" be? And AFAIK "k" is _only_ context
dependent in IT|computer science field, which makes it even more painful.

>> Especially not when the context is so closely related.
> 
> Close?  They're miles apart.
Miles apart? Even in ffmpeg.c's output they are only a few milimeters
apart :)


>[...]
>>>> ...and "Ki" represents "kibi", which like the rest of its ilk is an ugly
>>>> abomination, not to be used on pain of ME HATES YOU FOREVER.
>>> I agree, and I will personally revert any commits introducing this madness into
>>> ffmpeg.
>> IMHO the "madness" lies with those who thought 1024 was "close enough"
>> to 1000 to reuse the 'k' prefix for it.
>>
>> And for the end-user, the "madness" lies in the fact that he sees "kB"
>> but can't be sure if it means 1000 or 1024, because he doesn't know the
>> context in which to use either. A bit as with harddrive sizes.
> 
> We're not required to cater for the requirements of arbitrarily stupid
> users.  If users *really* need to know, they can check the source code.
I disagree. The output of ffmpeg is there to inform the users of what is
happening. I dislike the name "kibi" too, but I consider my personal
taste of less importance than the unambiguity of the output of an
application.

Furthermore, I do not consider users stupid because they do not know
that -unlike in every other scientific field- a prefix "k" can represent
two values in the software world.

With friendly regards,
Takis




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