42 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
42 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
canonical
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adj. [very common; historically, according to religious law ] The usual or
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standard state or manner of something. This word has a somewhat more
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technical meaning in mathematics. Two formulas such as 9 + x and x + 9 are
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said to be equivalent because they mean the same thing, but the second one
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is in canonical form because it is written in the usual way, with the
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highest power of x first. Usually there are fixed rules you can use to
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decide whether something is in canonical form. The jargon meaning, a
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relaxation of the technical meaning, acquired its present loading in
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computer-science culture largely through its prominence in Alonzo Church's
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work in computation theory and mathematical logic (see Knights of the Lambda
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Calculus ). Compare vanilla. Non-technical academics do not use the
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adjective canonical in any of the senses defined above with any regularity;
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they do however use the nouns canon and canonicity (not **canonicalness or
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**canonicality). The canon of a given author is the complete body of
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authentic works by that author (this usage is familiar to Sherlock Holmes
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fans as well as to literary scholars). The canon is the body of works in a
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given field (e.g., works of literature, or of art, or of music) deemed
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worthwhile for students to study and for scholars to investigate. The word
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canon has an interesting history. It derives ultimately from the Greek (akin
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to the English cane ) referring to a reed. Reeds were used for measurement,
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and in Latin and later Greek the word canon meant a rule or a standard. The
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establishment of a canon of scriptures within Christianity was meant to
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define a standard or a rule for the religion. The above non-techspeak
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academic usages stem from this instance of a defined and accepted body of
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work. Alongside this usage was the promulgation of canons ( rules ) for the
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government of the Catholic Church. The techspeak usages ( according to
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religious law ) derive from this use of the Latin canon. Hackers invest this
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term with a playfulness that makes an ironic contrast with its historical
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meaning. A true story: One Bob Sjoberg, new at the MIT AI Lab, expressed
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some annoyance at the incessant use of jargon. Over his loud objections, GLS
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and RMS made a point of using as much of it as possible in his presence, and
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eventually it began to sink in. Finally, in one conversation, he used the
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word canonical in jargon-like fashion without thinking. Steele: Aha! We've
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finally got you talking jargon too! Stallman: What did he say? Steele: Bob
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just used canonical in the canonical way. Of course, canonicality depends on
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context, but it is implicitly defined as the way hackers normally expect
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things to be. Thus, a hacker may claim with a straight face that according
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to religious law is not the canonical meaning of canonical.
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