Data Sheet Grammar
- Thread starter AnalogKid
- Start date
KeithWalker
- Joined Jul 10, 2017
- 3,194
He does! He suggests that we eliminate unnecessary words. The word "shown" is implied, placed just before "in" and "on". 
ElectricSpidey
- Joined Dec 2, 2017
- 2,894
Sounds like the difference between a single sheet or a multiple sheet datasheet.
In = multiple sheets.
On = single sheet.
Who knows...who cares.
In = multiple sheets.
On = single sheet.
Who knows...who cares.
KeithWalker
- Joined Jul 10, 2017
- 3,194
Then we should be referring to a single "datasheet" or "datasheets" that have multiple pages.
I don't see it that way. A datasheet is an item, an object. There would be datasheets in a catalog.
ak
You can think of a datasheet as an object that contains things, in which case something is "in" the datasheet, or you can think of a datasheet as pieces of paper "on" which things are written.
Since there is almost zero chance for miscommunication, even if both viewpoints were to be used in the same sentence, there is very little motivation for people to care about it. We also talk about a food dish being "in" the menu or "on" the menu. If you are writing something, my recommendation would be to adopt a viewpoint and then use it consistently. Personally, I think that the "in" viewpoint is more natural and consistent with how we generally describe other written instruments. We don't talk about a topic being discussed on a book, but rather in a book.
Since there is almost zero chance for miscommunication, even if both viewpoints were to be used in the same sentence, there is very little motivation for people to care about it. We also talk about a food dish being "in" the menu or "on" the menu. If you are writing something, my recommendation would be to adopt a viewpoint and then use it consistently. Personally, I think that the "in" viewpoint is more natural and consistent with how we generally describe other written instruments. We don't talk about a topic being discussed on a book, but rather in a book.
I've seldom seen single-page data sheets and have seen many thousand-page data sheets, and also data sheets that were bound books.
On a related grammar note, I've wondered whether it should be "datasheet" or "data sheet" and have found nothing definitive, but it appears that "data sheet" has traditionally been considered the more "correct" form but that the single-word form is likely to become the norm in the future. I find myself naturally wanting to use "datasheet", but usually consciously changing it to "data sheet" in an effort to be 'correct'. Probably pointless and also probably underscores why 'datasheet' is becoming the norm. Again, I would argue that internal consistency is the more-useful thing in this regard.
In sounds proper to me because the datasheet (an array of data?) is the information not the medium. The information of interest is nested somewhere within (notice in within within, coincidence!?)
Where is the datasheet? On a computer screen or on a piece of paper.
Where is the datasheet? On a computer screen or on a piece of paper.
Jon Chandler
- Joined Jun 12, 2008
- 1,103
Thinking in search engine terms, it seems like "datasheet" is a more specific term.
Words and conventions change and evolve. It is my current understanding and observation that a shift is occurring from "data sheet" to "datasheet". This has happened many times throughout history. I had an English teach in junior high that showed us several examples of old texts in which compound nouns had spaces that we would rarely, if ever, see today. The example I particularly stuck was "light house" which became, of course, "lighthouse". I expect this to become more pronounced in the age of search engines in which separated words are less able to return the narrower results that can be obtained with combined words.
Considering I've never handled a physical datasheet, the sheet part of the word is an arciac misrepresentation. I like data-sheet myself because it implies some data is on a sheet whereas datasheet and data sheet reference independent nouns. My brains hurts.
Kids these days . . .
ak
