Bernhard Eversberg wrote this excerpted text:
>
> C. M. Sperberg-McQueen writes, among other things:
>
> >...
> > In short, a term like 'sorting' might be more widely understood
> > (though most computer scientists would surely understand it to be a
> > request for work on the implications of 16- and 32-bit characters
> > for sorting algorithms), but the term 'collation' is in fact usual
> > in this context. Whether it is actually defined as a term in any of
> > the relevant standards I could not say ...
>
> But that was my question.
> What we need here is an agreed-upon term everybody understands
> correctly. If "collation" goes back to punched cards and has become
> obsolete or fallen into disuse, either revive it officially or drop
> it. Given the current use of "collation" in AACR and German rules, > catalogers will misunderstand it.
I've been watching the list for some time now; my company works with
images and the associated metadata, among other things. I will not
argue the use of 'collation' one way or another, but I happened to run
across, in my ongoing Java education, the classes used for ordering text
alphabetically, just at the time this thread began.
It is called java.text.Collator. Complementary classes are
java.text.CollationKey, and java.text.CollationElementIterator. So at
least Java programmers will know what you mean.
I'll also note that, out of context, I would assume the sense of the
word to be:
2. (Print.) The gathering and examination of sheets preparatory
to binding. (Webster Dictionary, 1913)
Cheers,
Chris Goldman
--
Christopher D. Goldman | Busy Box Productions
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'Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but
rather when there is nothing more to take away.' -- Antoine de
Saint-Exupery
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