What does the word "increments" mean in the following sentence?
The programmer spent many months making an algorithm to map our world in 20-foot-square increments.
I looked up the word in dictionaries, but couldn't find any helpful meanings.
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6Please include the definitions that don't match, and why you don't think they're correct. "Increment" seems a good fit to me.– gotube ♦Jul 5, 2022 at 22:49
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Pieces, chunks.– John GordonJul 6, 2022 at 20:31
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4 Answers
Lexico "increments":
An increase or addition, especially one of a series on a fixed scale.
Therefore it means the programmer is building the world one "block" at a time, in this case a 20 foot by 20 foot square.
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The algorithm will "place" these 20 foot square blocks one at a time to build the entire world!
The programmer spent months writing an algorithm to map the world in (very many very small) 20-foot-square patches.
"Increments" might not be the right word here, though it's understandable. It would be correct if the algorithm added the patches to the map one at a time - that is, incrementally.
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@MikeBrockington Perhaps. I agree that "patches" is not good, but "increments" suggests something sequential that may not describe how the algorithm actually works. Jul 6, 2022 at 14:36
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1@EthanBolker it could, OTOH, be a perfect description of the process, adding 20-ft squares one-by-one to a map/database, perhaps in a process that looks rather like rastering– Chris HJul 6, 2022 at 15:12
It means that the map is constructed from squares 20 feet on the side. It may additionally mean that he extended the algorithm by squares of that size over the multiple-month interval, but that is not clear from the context.
answered Jul 5, 2022 at 21:29
"Pieces" would be a synonym for "increments" in this case.
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In this case I guess "pieces" would be a less precise term. Being a programmer myself, I guess if the text uses the word "increment" it probably wants to highlight the fact that these pieces are generated/calculated/modeled/(whatever) incrementally (i.e. in some sort of sequence dictated by the algorithm). The term "pieces" doesn't necessarily express this nuance. Jul 6, 2022 at 14:25
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"Pieces" can be created sequentially and be precisely incremented. "Pieces" does not rule out being the exact same size and shape, in my opinion. A molding machine creates thousands of precisely, perfectly copied parts. Nobody calls those parts "increments" because "pieces" isn't precise enough.– user8356Jul 6, 2022 at 15:01
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On a slightly more technical angle, I might expect to see the word "Tiles" used, if that was the intent.– MikeBJul 7, 2022 at 12:19
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@user8356 As I said, this is about a computer science/programming/algorithm thing, not manufacturing. I assure you that in those contexts often "pieces" is a much more general term than "increments". For example, parallel algorithms may generate "pieces" of something in a non-sequential fashion. When a programmer says "increment"/"incremental" he/she very often implies some sequential process. I have rarely seen the term "pieces" used in a programming context like this. Jul 8, 2022 at 6:30
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The result is a "map" according to the original post (the algorithm "maps" the world). We are therefore discussing sections of a map. In that context, "pieces", "slices", "sections" and similar terms are surely applicable, as much as "increments". Just my opinion, I doubt there's a wrong answer here.– user8356Jul 8, 2022 at 13:09