Simon’s Blog

So, I was reading Slashdot, and in the top post, someone had written, “I know little to nothing about programming, but would like to (develop) a POS application.” Now, stop for a second. Given this context, what does “POS” mean to you?

I have to confess, when I read it, my very first reaction was, POS == Piece Of Shit! Well, it shouldn’t be a problem, I thought, for someone that knows little to nothing about software to develop a piece-of-shit application. After all, I’ve seen that done many, many times before;-)

Of course, a second later, I thought - no-one would actually ask how to develop an app like that! I read on, and the poster mentioned: touch screens; barcode readers; themal printers (nooooooooo, they should have been banned when they were available for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum); credit card readers etc… and I realised they were talking about, POS == Point Of Sale.

The context gave the authour’s intended meaning away to me in this case - but it easily mightn’t have. When ever people use an abbreviation an acronym, it’s a really good idea to spell out what the letters stand for, assuming they want to be understood, that is. A quick acronym search shows there are well over fifty meanings for POS e.g. Palm Operating System, Persistent Object Server, Pivoting Optical Servo, Proof of Shipment and Priory of Sion.

Hmmmm… come to think of it, a Priory of Sion application might be interesting, especially if it would help persuade Dan Brown to finish his next Robert Langdon novel…