[krx]

and if so what might it mean? I keep seeing things, applications, described as extensible ... and it's beginning to make me mad.

[Chuckit]

It generally means that they can be extended or improved by third parties.

[mduell]

Yes, it's in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

Of or relating to a programming language or a system that can be modified by changing or adding features.

[krx]

I figured it was something like that ... but then, couldn't they use a word that already exists, like extendable?

I guess it also picks up a sense of making things 'extensive' - and extensible certainly sounds better than 'extensivable' ... or something like that.

[- - e r i k - -]

Damn, that was one tough mofo to get a screenshot of even with SnapzPro.

[himself]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

Damn, that was one tough mofo to get a screenshot of even with SnapzPro.

Beat me to it.

[Ghoser777]

Originally Posted by krx

I figured it was something like that ... but then, couldn't they use a word that already exists, like extendable?

I guess it also picks up a sense of making things 'extensive' - and extensible certainly sounds better than 'extensivable' ... or something like that.

Extensible is used outside of computer science as well:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/52/E0295200.html

[krx]

Hey, what program did you guys use to pull up that definition like that and - most importantly!! - is it extensible?

[- - e r i k - -]

*cough* It's called Mac OS X:

[bradoesch]

If you're running Tiger, hover over a word and press Command+Control+D.

[himself]

You're workin that Snapz pro today... there's also a key command, but I can't remember it (ichanged it to F8). I think it is command-control-D.

[- - e r i k - -]

Or like some of us prefer to map it to (System Preferences -> Keyboard and Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts), F8

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by himself

You're workin that Snapz pro today... there's also a key command, but I can't remember it (ichanged it to F8). I think it is command-control-D.

Yeah, got to make it worth what I paid for it

[Ghoser777]

When I do that it just brings up the Dictionary program...

Ahhh... you have to change a preference in the Dictionary app to make it do that. Neat!

[- - e r i k - -]

Yeah, for some reason they made opening the program the default behaviour when they went GM with Tiger. Forgot about that.

[krx]

Originally Posted by bradoesch

If you're running Tiger, hover over a word and press Command+Control+D.

Cool. Learn something - or a few things - new everyday.

[Salty]

It allows you to extend the reach of that thing, or what it can do. For example spotlight is extensible because other apps can tie into spotlight to help it be able to search their file types.

[CaseCom]

Originally Posted by bradoesch

If you're running Tiger, hover over a word and press Command+Control+D.

Sweet!

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by CaseCom

Sweet!

I love that dictionary

[Salty]

love it like a mofo?

[Millennium]

I'll ask my wife about this when I get the chance, but I'm pretty sure that extend and extensible come from the same Latin root verb. I don't know what the verb is, unfortunately.

In any case, however, extendable is a valid word, but it seems to deal with a different sense of the word extend: "able to be elongated" rather than "able to accept additional functions."

[Oisín]

Yes, they do come from the same root, and share the same etymological relationship as the verb 'tend' and the adjective 'tense' do: (ex)tend comes from the Latin present stem tend- (e.g., tendo 'I stretch', etc.), while (ex)tens(e/ive) comes from the perfective participle passive (PPP) tensus (also tentus, from which form comes words such as 'extent', with a t).

(The perfective active stem is tetend-, i.e., made from symbolic reduplication of the present stem)

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Millennium

I'll ask my wife about this when I get the chance, but I'm pretty sure that extend and extensible come from the same Latin root verb. I don't know what the verb is, unfortunately.

They're likely both from Latin; (ex)tendere is to stretch.

[Oisín]

*cough* Look above *cough*