1 Writing for Computer Science 4. Punctuation Ko, Myung warn

2 Contents Fonts and formatting Stops Commas Colons and semicolons Apostrophes Exclamations Hyphenation Capitalization Quotations Parentheses Citations

3 Fonts and formatting Fonts  Most computing or mathematical writing uses 3 fonts or 4 fonts. ☞ Overuse of fonts results messy-looking text.  For emphasis, use the italic font. ☞ Bold print is distracting. ☞ Use of underlining for emphasis is obsolete. Plain, italic, bold or fixed-width

4 Fonts and formatting Formatting  Indentation is used primarily to indicate the start of a new paragraph. ☞ If use a blank line instead, the meaning unclear at a page break.  Indentation also used to offset material that is not part of textual flow. ☞ Quotes, programs  Papers submitted for review… ☞ Use wide margins, a decent font size, left-justified  Pages should be numbered.

5 Stops Stops is end of sentences. Stops also used in  Abbreviations, Acronyms, etc. It is not a usual to put a stop at the end of a heading. × 3. Neural Nets for Image Classification. √ 3. Neural Nets for Image Classification

6 Commas Use of commas  to mark pause, indicate the correct parsing, form lists, a parenthetical remark. Use the minimum number of commas. But don’t omit too many commas. “the four processes that use the network are almost never idle”  of the processes, the four that use the network are almost never idle “the four processes, which use the network, are almost never idle”  the four processes use the network and are almost never idle × When using disk tree algorithm were fount to be particularly poor. √ When using disk, tree algorithm were fount to be particularly poor.

7 Commas Commas give the reader time to breathe. × As illustrated by the techniques listed at the end of the section there are recent advances in parallel algorithms and multiprocessor hardware that indicate the possibility of optimal use of shared disk arrays by indexing algorithms such as hose of interest here. √ As illustrated by the techniques listed at the end of the section, recent advances in parallel algorithms and multiprocessor hardware may allow optimal use of shared disk arrays by some algorithms, including indexing algorithms such as those of interest here.

8 Colons and semicolons Colons  Colons are used to join related statements.  Colons are used to introduce list. √ These small additional structures allow a large saving : the worst case is reduced from O(n) to O(log n). √ There are three phases: accumulation of distinct symbols, construction of the tree, and compression itself.

9 Colons and semicolons Semicolons  Separate the elements in a list  A sentence for emphasis √ There are three phases: accumulation of distinct symbols in a hash table; construction of the tree, using a temporary array to hold the construction of the tree, using a temporary array to hold the symbols for sorting; and the compression itself. √ In theory the algorithm would be more efficient with an array; but in practice a tree is preferable.

10 Apostrophes Singular possessives, an apostrophe and “s”  For some names ending in “-s”, can optionally omit the “s” Plural possessives do not require “s” Pronoun possessives do not require apostrophe contractions require apostrophe other case, apostrophes not required the student’s algorithm students’ passwords its speed it is blue  it’s blue

11 Exclamations Avoid exclamation marks! Rarely, after a genuine surprise. But √ Performance deteriorated after addition of resources! √ Remarkably, Performance deteriorated after addition of resources.

12 Hyphenation Joining words. Override right associativity. Run over the end of a line. Three different “dash” 1. The hyphen used for joining words. 2. The en-dash used in arithmetic and range. 3. The em ─ dash used for punctuation. Randomized data structure  randomized data-structure ⇔ structure for randomized data × availab-le ⇒ √ avail-able

13 Capitalization Proper names are capitalized. Headings  Minimally capitalized (use subsections)  Maximally capitalized (use sections) The use of jump statements: Advice for Prolog programmers The Use of Jump Statements: Advice for Prolog Programmers

14 Quotations Quotation marks are placed inside the quotation when they are not part of the original material. If the material in the quotation marks is literal string, the punctuation must go outside. × One of the reserved words in C is “for.” √ One of the reserved words in C is “for”. √ One of the reserved words in C is for

15 Parentheses Punctuate as if the parenthetical statement was not there. Don’t use × Most quantities are small (but there are exceptions.) √ Most quantities are small (but there are exceptions). × (Note that outlying points have been omitted). √ (Note that outlying points have been omitted.) × ( ( ) ) Parentheses within parentheses × “any observed error (s)”

16 Citations Punctuated as if they were parenthetical remarks. The cite should be close to material it relates. × In (Wilson 1984) such cases are shown to be rare. √ Such cases have been shown to be rare (Wilson 1984). Wilson(1984) has shown that such cases are rare. × The original algorithm has asymptotic complexity O(n2) but low memory usage, so it is not entirely superseded by Ahlberg’s approach, which although of complexity O(nlogn) requires a large in-memory array (Ahlberg 1996, Keele 1989). √ The original algorithm has asymptotic complexity O(n2) but low memory usage (Keele 1989). Thus it is not entirely superseded by Ahlberg’s approach (Ahlberg 1996), which, although of complexity O(nlogn), requires a large in-memory array.