Re: Temporary variables

["Jeffrey R. Carter" <spam.jrcarter.not@spam.acm.org>]

Georg Bauhaus wrote:
> Recently, more and more WWW writers writing about programming
> seem to prefer the phrase "temporal variable" to "temporary
> variable", for exmple, in the Ada wikibook.  I don't know
> English well, but I had thought (and have checked) that
> "temporal" is not the same as "temporary".  It is either

I haven't encountered this, but I agree that it's probably wrong. "Temporal" in 
SW usually means "of or pertaining to time"; that's its meaning in "temporal 
logic", for example. So you might refer to a variable that holds a time-related 
value a temporal variable, but that's a stretch.

A temporary variable is also related to time: It's a variable that only exists 
for a short period of time. That is perhaps where the confusion arises.

The use in the link you posted should be "temporary".

-- 
Jeff Carter
"I'm particularly glad that these lovely children were
here today to hear that speech. Not only was it authentic
frontier gibberish, it expressed a courage little seen
in this day and age."
Blazing Saddles
88