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Re: I need help with Functionality versus Function ; Plus
Subject:Re: I need help with Functionality versus Function ; Plus From:Mark Baker <mbaker -at- OMNIMARK -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 15 Jul 1998 13:14:32 -0400
Mark Dempsey wrote
>I write documents, not documentation (yes, they're both in the
>dictionary).
"Documentation" and "Functionality" are collectives. "Documents" and
"Functions" are plurals. Since the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts, there is a place for collectives. There are characteristics of the
whole which arise from its possessing a multiplicity of parts, but which are
not characteristics of the parts. Many collections or assemblies or
constructions are made up of parts, but achieve a cohesion which gives them
distinct characteristics and merits a distinct name. "Flock" has a meaning
distinct from "geese". "Car" has a meaning distinct from "auto parts". There
are a number of statements you can make about "the documentation" of a
product that you cannot necessarilly make accurately about any one
"document" or about "the documents":
As an (admittedly trivial) example, if you have three documents "Install",
"Configure", "Use" you can say:
"The documentation teaches you to install and configure the grapplgrommet"
You cannot say
"The documents teach you to install and configure the grapplgrommet"
Since this is not true of all the documents. Similarly, it is not true of
any one document.
While it is always best to choose Anglo-Saxon words over Latin or Greek ones
and short words over long ones, it is not appropriate to use the incorrect
class of word for the intended usage just because there is a shorter word in
another class. It a word ending in "ality" or "ation" is the only common
word in the class of words that you need, it is the appropriate word to use.
To address the original question: "Functionality" describes the behavior of
the whole. "Functions" describes the behavior of the parts. These are
different things requiring different names.
---
Mark Baker
Manager, Corporate Communications
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com
