Idioms with give

• to give someone a dirty look = to look at someone in a way that shows that you are angry with them
• to give someone the nod
• to give something the thumbs up
• to give someone a blank check

to discard vs to dismiss vs to disregard

TO DISCARD

[transitive]

1. to get rid of something [= to throw away, to dispose of, to dump, to do away with].
2. to remove someone or something because you no longer want or need them [= to cast aside].

TO DISMISS

[transitive]

1. to refuse to consider someone's idea, opinion, suggestion, etc, because you think it is not important, or serious [= to reject]
2. to remove someone from their job [= to fire, to make redundant, to sack]
3. to order or allow to leave; send away.

TO DISREGARD

[transitive] to ignore something or treat it as unimportant [= to ignore]

Discard Examples

• Fishermen discard a portion of catches of fish, those which are unmarketable species, or individuals which are below minimum landing sizes.
• Cut the tomatoes in half, scoop out and discard the seeds.
• Disk Jockeys are discarding turntables for new equipments.
• Why would a Narcissist keep in touch periodically over one year after the relationship is over if he discarded you and never looked back?

Dismiss Examples

• Bayern Munich dismissed speculation they are about to sign Italian playmaker Andrea Pirlo.
• UK and France dismiss Italy's call for pause in Nato bombing of Libya
• Debt crisis: Angela Merkel dismisses Spain and Italy's pleas for aid.
• The Italian law provides that an employer, wishing to dismiss an employee, must communicate in writing the dismissal and the related reason contextually.
• I was unfairly dismissed from my post.
• Lord, dismiss us with Your blessing.
• The teacher NOT the bell dismisses students.

• Every smart phone has got an alarm clock application. Using the alarm clock app is as simple as using the alarm clock on your bedside table. Upon waking up you would be presented with two selections: 'snooze' and 'dismiss'. Press or hit the dismiss button to stop the alarm.

Disregard Examples

• Hi {username}, Your Facebook password was changed on {date}. If you did this, you can safely disregard this email.

Programming languages vocabulary

This post is a kind of different one. I want to draw some differences between the meaning of words that software developers encounter when reading computer languages books.

BRACE (noun) one of a pair of signs { } used to wrap the body of a function, of a class, etc.

Example:
- A JavaScript function expression can have a body which is wrapped in curly braces, containing zero or more statements.
- In a Java program curly braces enclose meaningful units of code.

---

BRACKET (noun) one of the pair of signs put around words to invoke functions or to access array elements: ( ), [ ], < >

• ( ) round brakets
• [ ] square brakets
• < > angle brakets or sharp brakets

Examples:
- A JavaScript array literal is a pair of square brackets surrounding zero or more values separated by commas.
- Round brackets is the British word for the American parenthesis.
- In the HTML syntax, most elements are written with a start tag and an end tag, with the content in between. Tags are composed of the name of the element, surrounded by angle brackets.

---

CHARACTER /ˈkariktər/ (noun) A character is a unit of information that corresponds to a grapheme, or symbol, such as in an alphabet in the written form of a natural language. [WikiPedia]

Examples:
- A character encoding system consists of a code that pairs each character, from a given set, with numerical values, in order to facilitate the transmission of data or for data storage.
- Examples of characters include letters, digits, punctuation marks and control characters.

---

DIGIT (noun) one of the written signs that represent the numbers 0 to 9.

Examples:
- The year is a four digits number.

---

EXPRESSION (noun) A combination of variables, constants, and functions linked by operation symbols that describe a rule for calculating a value.

Example:
The simplest expressions in JavaScript language are a literal value (such as a string or number), a variable or a built-in value.

---

IDENTIFIER OR NAME (noun) An identifier is the name of a statements, variable, function, property, parameters and labels.

Example:
- In JavaScript a name is a letter optionally followed by one or more letters, digits, or underbars. A name cannot be a language reserved word.

---

LETTER (noun) a sign in writing or printing that represents a speech sound.

Examples:
- The English alphabet has 26 letters.
- It's not polite to use capital letters when you write on internet forums or message boards.

---

PACKET

In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of transmitted data over a digital network. Packet switching send data into small blocks called packets rather than as a continuous stream. Sending data in this way helps to improve the robustness and efficiency of networks. Packets are made of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used by networking hardware to direct the packet to its destination, where the payload is extracted and used by an operating system, application software or higher layer protocols. Network Packet

---

POUND or HASH SIGN: # The # symbol is commonly called the pound, number sign, hash sign or hashtag, (read more).

Examples:
- You can specify any color in CSS using the color property and hex codes. These are six-digit codes that represent the amount of red, green and blue in a color, preceded by a pound or hash # sign. For example: #ee3e80.

---

SCOPE (noun) the range of things that a subject, activity, book etc deals with

Examples:
-The scope of a variable is the region of your program source code in which it is defined.

---

SCRIPTING (noun) An interpreted language (JavaScript, Perl, PHP, etc) used to write simple programs, called scripts. 

Examples:
- Scripting is the name given to a method of inserting little bits of "program" into a web page to make it more active.
- The use of scripts done on the web server is called server-side scripting. If your ISPs don't let you run server-side scripts, you have to make do with client-side scripting.

---

STATEMENT (noun) An instruction or other elementary component in a high-level programming language, that can be executed.

Example:
Statements are executed in order from top to bottom. The sequence of execution can be changed by the conditional statements (if and switch), by the looping statements (while, for, and do), by the disruptive statements (break, return, and throw).

---

Links to IT vocabulary
Free OnLine Dictionary of Computing
Cornell University's vocabulary about IT security

making someone do something

TO PUSH = to encourage or force someone to do something or to work hard. [= to incite, to urge]

Examples:

Encourage your kids to read more, but try not to push them too hard.

My English teacher, Stewart, as a child, was pushed to do extra hours in Mathematics by his parents.

---

TO URGE = to strongly suggest that someone does something [= to push]

urge somebody to do something

Examples:

The best way to learn programming is to program, so I urge you to jump in and try the challenges

---

TO COMPEL = to force someone to do something especially using extreme persuasion. [= to force to act]

Examples:

The demons of the ice age are still haunting our 21st century bodies. In the absence of hardship, they are compelling us to behave in ways which are clearly unhealthy. [Douglas Crockford]

---

TO FORCE = to make someone do something they do not want to do. [= to obligate to do something]

Examples:

Why is my evil lecturer forcing me to learn statistics?

Can my boss force me to work overtime?

The police arrested a woman on charges of murder of her husband for forcing her into flesh trade.

---

TO DICTATE = to tell someone exactly what they must do or how they must behave [= to command, to give instructions].

Examples:

Science is what you do with that not what it is: Science itself doesn't dictate the choices that you make.

---

TO OBLIGE (formal, usually in passive) = if you are obliged to do something, you have to do it because the situation, the law, a duty etc makes it necessary.

Examples:

Getting close to books, and spending time by myself, I was obliged to think about things I would never have thought about if I was busy romping around with a brother and sister. [Shelby Foote]

trail vs trial

This post is an entry where is discussed some elementary English. If you have a doubt about the meaning of a word or if you get confused by the sound of two similar words, why not to write a post?

TRAIL /treɪl/
noun
1. a rough path across countryside or through a forest.
2. a long line or a series of marks that have been left by someone or something
3. a stream of dust, smoke, light, people, vehicles, etc., behind something moving.

Examples:
• Condensation trails or vapour trails are long thin artificial clouds that sometimes form behind aircraft.
• The worst-ever floods in Pakistan’s history have left a trail of death and devastation

---

TRIAL /ˈtraɪəl/
noun
1. a legal process in which a judge in a court decides whether someone is guilty of a crime
2. a process of testing to find out whether something works effectively and is safe
3. a short period during which you do something or employ someone to find out whether they are satisfactory for a particular purpose [= probation]

Examples:
• New drugs must undergo clinical trials to test safety and effectiveness before being approved for sale.
• Somebody says that the human learning process follows the trials and errors method.
• I have been working in Accenture on a trial period of two weeks.