Which is it Perl or perl, TIF or TIFF, ant or Ant, ClearCase or Clear Case?

Question

In one sentence I have manage to create 16 possible variations on how I present information. Does it matter as long as the context is clear? Do any common mistakes irritate you?

Answer 1

regarding Perl: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/72312/how-should-i-capitalize-perl

TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format, whereas the extension of files using that format is often ".tif". That is for the purpose of compatibility with 8.3 filenames, I believe.

I generally like the Perl way of capitalizing when used as a proper noun, but lowercasing when referring to the command itself (assuming the command is lowercase to begin with).

Answer 2

Even though Perl was originally an acronym for Practical Extration and Report Language, it is written Perl.

These things dont 'bother' me as much as they provide insights into the level of knowledge of the speaker/author. You see, we work in a industry that requires precision, so precision in language does matter as it affects the understanding of the consumer.

Answer 3

Well, Perl and TIFF have already been answered, so I'll add the last two

• the Apache Foundation writes "Apache Ant".
• Rational ClearCase (or sometimes "IBM Rational ClearCase") is written as such at its web site.

Answer 4

The one that really seems to bother me is when people fully upper case JAVA as though it was an acronym.