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"priority"

"priority"

Posted Dec 4, 2020 21:10 UTC (Fri) by dfsmith (guest, #20302)
Parent article: A realtime developer's checklist

Is there a reason that the priority (English word) is sometimes inverted from the English meaning of "priority"? It seems that "importance" would be less ambiguous. B-)
Examples:
"safety is our number one priority" -> set priority to 99.
"snacks are low priority" -> set priority to 1 ("low"/"high" priority works!)
"our second priority is to ensure lunch is ready" -> set priority to 98.
"coffee is way down our priority list" -> set priority to 10 (and ignore the yelling).


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"priority"

Posted Dec 5, 2020 1:55 UTC (Sat) by neilbrown (subscriber, #359) [Link]

With tongue firmly in cheek, I might suggest that "priority" relates to "prior" meaning "before". And numbers "before" zero are normally negative.

So the first priority has a numerical priority of "-1". This is highest.
My second priority would have the value "-2", which isn't quite as high.

A positive value suggests a "laterity", meaning it can be left until later.


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