integer olf

[Lexia Moonstone]

Silly question that got me thinking...

I see integer olf; used a lot in loops. I get how it's used and what its doing,

but have no idea what olf stands for?

I don't think it's referring to Oromo Liberation Front, or how the loop or script smells... 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2018 by Lexia Moonstone

[Wulfie Reanimator]

There's no way for us to guess what it means without seeing the context (code). It could be just a typo for "off."

[KT Kingsley]

Almost certainly not a typo: several usages here in different examples: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Do_while.

[Love Zhaoying]

6 minutes ago, KT Kingsley said:

Almost certainly not a typo: several usages here in different examples: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Do_while.

Could be a random non-word; many books and guides use “foo” for variable names.

[Lexia Moonstone]

27 minutes ago, KT Kingsley said:

Almost certainly not a typo: several usages here in different examples: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Do_while.

Thanks That's what I was referring to, and because it was used in the wiki it's seen in many scripts in SL

[Lexia Moonstone]

23 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Could be a random non-word; many books and guides use “foo” for variable names.

It could be but olf is a common acronym for many other things, so was thing there might be some meaning for it for math or scripting, but not fining any.    olf seems to all ways be used for increments and decrements, but that could just be because its copied from the wiki so much.  I just googled foo as a variable and turns out its got a long history of use to it, commonly paired with bar.   I only script in LSL so was thinking there may be more to some of the common variable names used.  My first thought when you said foo as a variable was script foo.   We're talking about variable so the names can be anything.  I've started to work on script projects with other people  so have been thinking about common variable names for certain functions.   

[KT Kingsley]

Stick with the short and meaningful names like count, index, colour, texture. Use plurals for lists.

[Ruthven Ravenhurst]

one possible one that i found while searching google is "Overload Factor", but in this context maybe it's Open Loop Factor?

I also saw one that said Open Loop Feedback, but not sure what the feedback in this context would be

[Ruthven Ravenhurst]

i looked at the revision history of that page. it looks like Lowell Fitzgerald contributed that example. If you're serious about figuring out what OLF means, maybe see if they're still around to ask? I know sometimes I'll get something in my head that seems insignificant to others, it'll still bother me until i figure it out lol. Like if you see a familiar face and can't figure out where you know them from.

[Lexia Moonstone]

15 minutes ago, Ruthven Willenov said:

one possible one that i found while searching google is "Overload Factor", but in this context maybe it's Open Loop Factor?

I also saw one that said Open Loop Feedback, but not sure what the feedback in this context would be

Open Loop Factor or Open Loop Feedback, works for me helps if the variable name means something to me but i like to keep them short to when I can.  Open Loop Factor or Open Loop Feedback makes since to me because if your still doing --olf or ++olf the loops is still open.   Thanks this helps a lot, but now i'm going to be questioning all my variable names for a while.....  lol

 

[Wulfie Reanimator]

2 hours ago, Lexia Moonstone said:

Thanks That's what I was referring to, and because it was used in the wiki it's seen in many scripts in SL

In that case it definitely seems to be just an arbitrary non-word chosen by Lowell Fitzgerald (the contributor of the examples) back in 2007, because there's nothing in those examples that would explain why that name is used for that. The most conventional variable name for a simple loop (especially an example of a loop) would be i.

If we were to assume that it was an abbreviation for something (and by the way, almost any combination of letters is probably an abbreviation for something), like Open Loop Feedback, it would make sense in a very far-fetched way, as the term is used in the context of electrical systems. Trying to find "olf" used in any programming-related articles/posts/books comes up as a typo, like here.

Edited September 30, 2018 by Wulfie Reanimator

[ellestones]

from the usage of olf I think Lowell Fitzgerald has a engineering background

olf is shorthand for open loop feedback (as Wulfie mentions also)

clf is shorthand for closed loop feedback

in a open loop feedback system, what happens within the system doesn't change the time rate at which events occur: Example: while (x < n) {  x += 2 }

in a closed loop feedback system, what happens does change the time rate. Example: while (x < n)  {  x += 2 * x }

 

Edited October 1, 2018 by ellestones
changed example

[Profaitchikenz Haiku]

Is this another example like the Thunderbird's "FAB" ? Many have speculated over the years but whatever it meant is hidden with the Andersens.

Cryptic abbreviations have been the norm in Unix and earlier, many of the compilers or assemblers restricted the user to 6-letter labels as a maximum, and with a 22" wide platter on an RK05 disk holding a whopping 2.88 Mbytes you tended to be terse with your comments as well as your code, so explanations were often in paperwork off the system.

Regarding "OLF", I'm not sure about the "O", but "LF" suggests to me "loop for"

Edited October 1, 2018 by Profaitchikenz Haiku
typos, what else?

[Rachel1206]

Or a reminiscent of earlier academic mathematics research including early computer algebra systems where a for( x; condition, increment) loop is just coded with OLF( x )