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For the English Language masters...

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  • J Johann Gerell

    So, I'm Swedish and have some difficulties to differ between "insure" and "ensure". When coding, I tend to use "ensure" as in the function void EnsureProperState() and in the comment // Ensures that nothing bad will happen with bla bla bla. To me "insure" is about physical insurance, like "life insurance" or "vehicle insurance". Is there a more strict difference between them?

    -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

    D Offline
    D Offline
    Dalek Dave
    wrote on last edited by
    #17

    You have it exactly. To Ensure means to guarantee something happens, to Insure is to guard against! That seems a bit trite, but your definition is absolutely correct.

    ------------------------------------ I try to appear cooler, by calling him Euler.

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    • S soap brain

      I've never personally needed to learn any rules about this - I've always been right on instinct ever since I was very little. However, this looks like it knows what it's talking about.[^] At the end, it says, "Use i before e except after c or when sounded like a as in neighbor or weigh; and except seize and seizure and also leisure, weird, height, and either, forfeit, and neither."

      "What am I in the eyes of most people, a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person--somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then--even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

      D Offline
      D Offline
      Dalek Dave
      wrote on last edited by
      #18

      Ravel H. Joyce wrote:

      I've always been right on instinct

      ALWAYS? Thats quite a boast, even Einstein said he was wrong once! (ok he was wrong when he mis-corrected what was already right about his special theory, he soon corrected it back :) )

      ------------------------------------ I try to appear cooler, by calling him Euler.

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      • B benjymous

        Sadly this rule isn't sufficient either, to be honest, you could try in vein to work out standardised rules - The English language is somewhat weird and inconsistant, probably due to the kaleidoscopic way it's been merged from various sources, since ancient times most of our European neighbours have invaded at some point or other, and the language reflects that with many foreign influenced words. Science tends not to play by the rules either. You could probably do with some caffeine by now, I'm sure!

        -- Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!

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        C Offline
        ChandraRam
        wrote on last edited by
        #19

        benjymous wrote:

        inconsistaent

        :)

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        • D Dalek Dave

          Ravel H. Joyce wrote:

          I've always been right on instinct

          ALWAYS? Thats quite a boast, even Einstein said he was wrong once! (ok he was wrong when he mis-corrected what was already right about his special theory, he soon corrected it back :) )

          ------------------------------------ I try to appear cooler, by calling him Euler.

          S Offline
          S Offline
          soap brain
          wrote on last edited by
          #20

          Yes, always. ;P

          "What am I in the eyes of most people, a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person--somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then--even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

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          • S soap brain

            Yes, always. ;P

            "What am I in the eyes of most people, a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person--somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then--even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

            D Offline
            D Offline
            Dalek Dave
            wrote on last edited by
            #21

            I like your Confidence! :-D

            ------------------------------------ I try to appear cooler, by calling him Euler.

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            • D Dalek Dave

              I like your Confidence! :-D

              ------------------------------------ I try to appear cooler, by calling him Euler.

              S Offline
              S Offline
              soap brain
              wrote on last edited by
              #22

              I like your praise!

              "What am I in the eyes of most people, a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person--somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then--even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

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              • J Johann Gerell

                So, I'm Swedish and have some difficulties to differ between "insure" and "ensure". When coding, I tend to use "ensure" as in the function void EnsureProperState() and in the comment // Ensures that nothing bad will happen with bla bla bla. To me "insure" is about physical insurance, like "life insurance" or "vehicle insurance". Is there a more strict difference between them?

                -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

                L Offline
                L Offline
                Lost User
                wrote on last edited by
                #23

                Use "make sure" instead of "ensure". That way you'll never go wrong and you don't have to remember all those prefixes. Example: int i, e; i = i; // make sure that i is i e = e; // ... and e is e :)

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                • L Lost User

                  Use "make sure" instead of "ensure". That way you'll never go wrong and you don't have to remember all those prefixes. Example: int i, e; i = i; // make sure that i is i e = e; // ... and e is e :)

                  J Offline
                  J Offline
                  Johann Gerell
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #24

                  Well, that doesn't fit into my way of naming functions: MakeSureXYZ() would in my world mean that a SureXYZ object will be somehow "made" by that function, whereas EnsureXYZ() cannot be misunderstood. :)

                  -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

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                  • J Johann Gerell

                    So, I'm Swedish and have some difficulties to differ between "insure" and "ensure". When coding, I tend to use "ensure" as in the function void EnsureProperState() and in the comment // Ensures that nothing bad will happen with bla bla bla. To me "insure" is about physical insurance, like "life insurance" or "vehicle insurance". Is there a more strict difference between them?

                    -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

                    realJSOPR Offline
                    realJSOPR Offline
                    realJSOP
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #25

                    You are correct sir.

                    "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                    -----
                    "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

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                    • realJSOPR realJSOP

                      You are correct sir.

                      "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                      -----
                      "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

                      J Offline
                      J Offline
                      Johann Gerell
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #26

                      Gosh! I'm flabbergasted! I've never been "sir"-ed before... :rolleyes:

                      -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

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                      • J Johann Gerell

                        Well, that doesn't fit into my way of naming functions: MakeSureXYZ() would in my world mean that a SureXYZ object will be somehow "made" by that function, whereas EnsureXYZ() cannot be misunderstood. :)

                        -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

                        L Offline
                        L Offline
                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #27

                        I thought it was about the use of "ensure" inside comments, not naming functions with it. In that case, using Ensure as a prefix sounds just as weird to me as using MakeSure. :P If I'm not sure about something I just ASSERT it and fix problems later.

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