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Initialism

Table Of Contents

Justification For Existence

This tool makes memorizing scripts and speeches easier!

Why struggle with the tedious and error-prone task of creating initialisms for an entire script by hand? This program does it with impeccable precision for you every time, allowing you to format the output to your liking. Experience the ease and convenience for yourself―your brain will love it!

  • Before using this program

Key Binding

For easier usage―key bind initialism-dispatch.

A-b is particularly nice to avoid stomping on existing bindings.

Even better: make it available everywhere.

Here is how:

(global-set-key [(alt b)] #'initialism-dispatch)
(global-set-key [(alt shift ?b)] #'initialism-complete)

Note: consider initialism-complete a teaser until you dig a little deeper!

Usage

In this example, create the initialism EMACS from the phrase “Eventually Munches All Computer Storage,” following the most frequently used functions in the typical workflow’s order. You can use the dispatcher function to do the work using prefix arguments or call the functions individually. This example uses prefix arguments:

  • Building it
    • initialism-dispatch: Calls initialism-build
  • Reviewing it
    • C-u initialism-dispatch: Calls initialism-view
  • Inserting it
    • C-u C-u initialism-dispatch: Calls initialism-insert
  • Deleting it
    • C-u C-u C-u initialism-dispatch: Calls initialism-delete

Building

Start by positioning the Cursor at the start of the first word. Call initialism-dispatch. Notice that the value of the initialism appears in the Echo Area. The message is prefixed with the model length purely to assist in understanding the model assembly process: it is NOT part of the underlying model itself. Then the Cursor moves one step forward. Call initialism-dispatch again, and the Cursor moves, but nothing appears in the Echo Area. You can’t make an initialism using whitespace characters, so it is ignored. Call initialism-dispatch noting that the current initialism value is again displayed in the Echo Area, and the Cursor moves forward, this time with an additional character appended. Call initialism-dispatch, and the space character is then ignored. As you repeatedly call initialism-dispatch, you can watch the initialism built until you finally reach the end of the line, and I don’t know how to proceed.

@ represents the cursor location before calling initialism-dispatch

@Eventually Munches All Computer Storage
(E)
Eventually @Munches All Computer Storage
(EM)
Eventually Munches @All Computer Storage
(EMA)
Eventually Munches All @Computer Storage
(EMAC)
Eventually Munches All Computer @Storage
(EMACS)

Thank you emacs-name for the acronym!

Reviewing

Review the initialism value by calling C-u initialism-dispatch and observing the Echo Area.

(EMACS)

Inserting

Insert the initialism value by calling C-u C-u initialism-dispatch.

For convenience, the inserted value is also added to the kill-ring.

/@\
/(EMACS)@\

It’s important to understand that the format of the initialism is separate from the data itself. The actual initialism data, the Model, is stored in a private variable that you won’t need to touch. What you see presented from that data, the View, is the result of formatting the Model with the initialism-format-string, which you can modify to your liking.

Consider this example so far.

  • The Model: EMACS
  • The View: (EMACS)

Imagine that you want to format the initialism as bold text in LaTeX without parentheses around it. Use customize to customize initialism-format-string with the value \textbf{%s} and you now end up with

  • The Model: EMACS
  • The View: \textbf{EMACS}

Deleting

Delete the initialism value by calling C-u C-u C-u initialism-dispatch and note in the Echo Area the message.

(initialism) View deleted.

Reflecting

This example reflects the typical workflow for building an initialism. Call initialism-help to review the workflow. If you want to call the individual functions for each workflow step, you’ll also find their names.

Whenever I work, I try to explain what I’m doing in the Echo Area. If something doesn’t work right, start there, and if I failed you, please create a support ticket.

Now, start creating your next initialism.

Going A Lot Faster

Now that you’ve got the hang of it you’ll surely move on to longer passages. For example you could use this speech. Indeed, you never sought to create an initialism for one word: you are likely working on an entire speech or script! Your work will now go something like this:

  • Take the script and read it out loud.
  • Note the obvious break points in speaking for example impact or breath.
  • Generally, good breaks are at 5-7 words. However, this is not written in stone; it is very natural to find much longer passages. Note them.
  • This time read the passage while building the initialism. Note the word count and see what works for your speaking style and speed.
  • When you are ready insert the initialism right there in the passage and continue.
  • Read the script again and try it out. You’ll quickly find that you have some personal preferences developed for how you build your initialism. It also depends on the content itself. Consequently, you’ll perform multiple iterations until you figure out what works best for you.
  • By now you should have a sense of your development style and built initialisms for your script. Additionally, you should notice the massive elephant in the living room: once you get fast designing them, the actual build process slows you down! Consequently, there is a solution: instead of performing each step in the building process individually you can do it all in one fell swoop.

Instead of performing all of the steps individually, which you may think of as working in “development mode”, you can perform them all in one fell swoop using initialism-complete. Nothing revolutionary, but it will speed things up.

Surely now you must be asking yourself “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” Simple answer: you wouldn’t have understood how to use the tool in the first place, let alone speed it up. Remember that first you build initialisms in your mind, and then you use the tool to facilitate that process.

Finally, have fun with this too flying through the process!

Installation

Traditional

Download initialism.el into ~/src and add this to your configuration file:

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/src")
(require 'initialism)

Package

Manually

Download initialism.el, call package-install-file, and specify that file.

Add (require 'initialism) to your configuration file.

Automatically

Eventually this will get added to MELPA.

Is It An Initialism, Acronym, or Abbreviation?

  • What is the difference between an acronym and an initialism?
    • Both acronyms and initialisms are made up of the first letter or letters of the words in a phrase. The word acronym typically applies when the resulting thing can be read as a word; for example, radar comes from “𝙧𝙖dio 𝙙etection 𝙖nd 𝙧anging” and scuba comes from “𝙨elf-𝙘ontained 𝙪nderwater 𝙗reathing 𝙖pparatus.” The word initialism only applies when the resulting thing is read as an abbreviation; for example DIY, which comes from “𝙙o 𝙞t 𝙮ourself,” is pronounced by saying the names of the letters. Note that the word acronym is also sometimes used to mean “initialism.”
  • What is the difference between an acronym and an abbreviation?
    • An acronym is a kind of abbreviation. Abbreviations can be shortened forms of any kind. For example, appt is an abbreviation of appointment, and ASAP is an abbreviation of 𝙖s 𝙨oon 𝙖s 𝙥ossible. ASAP, however, also qualifies as an acronym because it is made up of the initial letters of the phrase it comes from: 𝙖s 𝙨oon 𝙖s 𝙥ossible.
  • Source: “Acronym. (Frequently Asked Questions)” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acronym. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Definitions

initialism
:an abbreviation formed from initial letters
acronym
:a word (such as NATO, radar, or laser) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term
  • also :an abbreviation (such as FBI) formed from initial letters: initialism
    • Is OK an acronym?
      • OK is technically an acronym. It comes from the phrase “oll korrect,” a humorous alteration of “all correct.”
  • Examples of acronym in a Sentence
    • The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is known by the acronym “NATO.”
  • Source: “Acronym.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acronym. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
abbreviation
:a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in place of the whole word or phrase
  • “Amt” is an abbreviation for “amount.”
  • “USA” is an abbreviation of “United States of America.”
  • Did you know?
    • What’s the difference between an abbreviation and an acronym?
      • Some people are unsure of whether to call ASAP or appt abbreviations or acronyms. Both abbreviation and acronym are used to refer to a shortened form, but an acronym is a shortened form of a phrase and is usually made up of the initial letters of that phrase. For example, NATO comes from “North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” and ASAP comes from “as soon as possible.” Abbreviations, on the other hand, can be shortened forms of words or phrases, and need not necessarily be made up of the initial letters of either. ASAP and appt (for appointment) are both considered abbreviations, but only ASAP is an acronym. Acronyms are a type of abbreviation.
  • Source: “Abbreviation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abbreviation. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Frequently Answered Questions

No End Of Line Support

Indeed, now you must ask yourself, “But why can’t you handle the end-of-line character, my dear system?” The answer is simple: it makes it easy for you to create initialism starting from wherever you like, skipping lines, paragraphs, or whatever you wish; there are no limits on the source and sequencing of your initialism. Therefore, I assume nothing beyond the fact that building the initialism using only the Character Classes [[:alnum:]] and [[:punct:]]

No Region Processing

It might sound like a good idea to support processing a marked region. However, that goes against the workflow of iteratively creating the initialism. Once in a while, your words will work perfectly for an enormous amount of text, but that is rare enough to omit the feature.

No Insertion Post-Processing Function

Suppose you always want to process the Model with a post-processing every time you insert it into the buffer. Providing a “default customizable function to handle insertion” might make sense. For example, you could configure it to split the Model into separate boxes in LaTeX. However, if you already know how to perform this step using your function, it doesn’t add much value using a configurable function in addition to that.

Other Initialism Creators

Since every acronym is an initialism, you will find many. However, I’ve yet to find an interactive app like this one. Understandably, though, this is a specialized approach.

That said, the dCode application is entertaining.

No Rebus Generation

This application does not generate rebuses.

rebus
: a representation of words or syllables by pictures of objects or by symbols whose names resemble the intended words or syllables in sound
  • also : a riddle made up of such pictures or symbols
  • Did you know?
    • Rebus and a Lack of Words
      • A rebus communicates its message by means of pictures or symbols whose names sound like various parts of a word, phrase, or sentence. For example, a picture of a can of tomatoes followed by the letters UC and a picture of a well means “Can you see well?” In Latin, the word rebus means “by things”; rebus is a form of the Latin word res, which means “thing.” English speakers started using the word rebus for picture writing in the early 1600s.
  • Source: “Rebus” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rebus. Accessed 17 May. 2024.

While interesting, they are generally unrelated to the goals of this project.

This Is Perfect For Prefix Arguments

initialism-dispatch delegates work to four other functions (see above). Why not bind keys to each of them instead? You can and should: it is all personal preference.

Given the workflow above, the four steps of building an initialism prefix arguments feel like a natural approach. Specifically, when you follow the workflow, you are already taking “breaks” between the steps. Creating them doesn’t require lightning; it makes the task harder. Consequently, prefix arguments get you back into the mindset of making it easy to develop initialisms.

It Isn’t Named Acronym or Abbreivate

Shouldn’t it be named Acronym or abbreviated? No, neither should be.

Every acronym is an initialism, but not vice versa. You must design the words of the acronym yourself and then use this library to create it. This library doesn’t help you choose those words.

An abbreviation is a shortened or contracted phrase. It might be an initialism, an/acronym/, or more. This library doesn’t help you figure out how to build the last two.

Consequently, it should be named Initialism.