undefined | Better HN

0 pointsdiggan2y ago0 comments

> In case someone doesn't understand the normal convention: "+X" is "additional X", while "X+" means "more than X". And lately people keep misusing them

Tad embarrassing perhaps, but I'm 30+ years old, been programming since I was ~15 and I've never heard about this convention before. Maybe it's a locale thing, or is it universal?

Edit: Not sure why my question is being downvoted? Here is a example sign from Spain: https://imgur.com/a/YTODbtD

It says "2+" even though the meaning they're trying to get across is "2 or more", which means they're not following that convention of "X+" meaning "more than X"

So at least there is one agency, in one country, who also haven't heard about this convention. Hence my question, as it doesn't seem, from my perspective, to be universal.

0 comments

2 comments · 1 top-level

pinusc2y ago· 1 in thread

I believe you're being downvoted because you missed the point of the comment you're replying to, which is not (necessarily) trying to imply the convention is that X+ means exactly "more than X" (i.e. >X). You're right that "X or more" (>= X) is an acceptable interpretation. This is not what the comment is nitpicking.

The page we're discussing lists PyCon talks next to the number of viewers. It writes "X or more viewers" as +X; this does not follow any variant of this "convention". It's as if you wrote that you are +30 years old, instead of 30+. The problem is the placement of the +. That's just weird/incorrect.

pinusc2y ago

Update: it seem they fixed the page so that it reads "X+ views" instead of "+X views". Maybe they read this hackernews comment chain!

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse