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SILICON SILIC CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher/Editor Nicholas Vinen Technical Editor John Clarke – B.E.(Elec.) Technical Staff Jim Rowe – B.A., B.Sc. Bao Smith – B.Sc. Tim Blythman – B.E., B.Sc. Advertising Enquiries (02) 9939 3295 adverts<at>siliconchip.com.au Regular Contributors Allan Linton-Smith Dave Thompson David Maddison – B.App.Sc. (Hons 1), PhD, Grad.Dip.Entr.Innov. Geoff Graham Associate Professor Graham Parslow Dr Hugo Holden – B.H.B, MB.ChB., FRANZCO Ian Batty – M.Ed. Phil Prosser – B.Sc., B.E.(Elec.) Cartoonist Louis Decrevel loueee.com Founding Editor (retired) Leo Simpson – B.Bus., FAICD Silicon Chip is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. ACN 626 922 870. ABN 20 880 526 923. All material is copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Subscription rates (Australia only) 6 issues (6 months): $70 12 issues (1 year): $130 24 issues (2 years): $245 Online subscription (Worldwide) 6 issues (6 months): $52.50 12 issues (1 year): $100 24 issues (2 years): $190 For overseas rates, see our website or email silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au * recommended & maximum price only Editorial office: Unit 1 (up ramp), 234 Harbord Rd, Brookvale, NSW 2100. Postal address: PO Box 194, Matraville, NSW 2036. Phone: (02) 9939 3295. ISSN: 1030-2662 Printing and Distribution: Editorial Viewpoint There are still TDM TLAs The phrase “TDM TLAs” (too darn many three-letter acronyms) was coined back around 1990 to describe the ridiculous number of three-letter abbreviations floating around. Since then, the problem has only gotten worse. Sometimes when I’m reading press releases or news articles, I’m forced to use Google to try to decode the gobbledygook presented to me. It isn’t helped by the fact that for any given set of three letters, there are probably a dozen (or more) possible meanings. It isn’t always easy to figure out which one the writer is referring to from context! Take, for example, DRM. If I wrote that DRM was bad (or DRM was good), what would that mean to you? Am I referring to Digital Rights Management? Digital Radio Mondiale? Disaster and Risk Management? Document and Record Management? Design Rules Manual? Design Review Meeting? Department of Resource Management? Data Recovery Module? (I could go on!) Did the folks who decided to call it Digital Radio Mondiale really want it to be confused with something that has negative connotations like Digital Rights Management? They could at least have called it Mondiale Digital Radio; MDR does refer to other things already, but nowhere near as many as DRM. In our articles, we try to spell out any term before we introduce its abbreviation. For example, if we introduce the concept of a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), then later we refer to a DAC, the reader should be able to understand what we mean. It’s when these things come out of the blue, and often in groups, that they can be perplexing. Here’s an example of a real sentence someone apparently wrote that I found online: Our team is using a CI pipeline with a new API to improve our POC for the CRM integration, but we ran into issues with the DNS when configuring the TLS settings. The devs are also considering switching the DB to a more robust SQL solution after some KPI analysis showed lag in the UX. Did you get that? Even if you’re familiar with some IT terms like CRM, TLS and SQL, you probably won’t know all of those terms, and you’ll have to go off searching for a while before you can decode that sentence. It’s really only helpful to experts in the field, so if you’re writing like that, you’d better be sure of who your audience is. It certainly doesn’t help that some of those terms have multiple meanings. For example, POC can be Point of Contact, Proof of Concept, Power Converter and some other, less flattering things (similar to POS). I have a sinking feeling that regardless of what I write here, the overcrowded list of abbreviations is only going to grow with time. Still, perhaps by ‘raising awareness’, we can work together to resist this scourge on our language. Subscription price changes From October 1st, 2024, prices for print subscription in Australia and New Zealand have increased slightly due to increased postage costs. For the new prices, see the adjacent side panel and page 95. The cover price has also increased by 50¢ (to $13.00). by Nicholas Vinen 24-26 Lilian Fowler Pl, Marrickville 2204 2 Silicon Chip Australia's electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au