Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Computing and electronics

NOTE: This guideline is currently a work-in-progress (WIP).

This guideline describes stylistic conventions to be used when referring to computer software names, technical computer software/hardware terms, trademarked software/hardware names, as well as computer code and formatting. This guideline attempts to address the need for a more consistent stylistic syntax for encyclopedic. It also attempts to facilitate web accessibility to make web pages easier to read and navigate, not only for those with disabilities, but for all readers. With more consistent use of wiki syntax for technical content, it will also be easier to justify developing software to assist increasing accessibility. Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• context-specific formatting and customization, such as font type and size adjustment
• enhanced text-to-speech synthesis and parsing for technical acronyms, abbreviations, and code snippets by implementing templates
• more precise Wikipedia search queries and indexing related to code
• language-specific syntax highlighting for code blocks and code snippets (already implemented)

Software

Currently, there is a growing use of unconventional stylized software names and terms that make in difficult to be consistent for encyclopedic content. In this guideline, the term software name refers to any technical name/term/acronym/abbreviation of an object, entity, or idea that is used in the context of computer software and/or computer programming which is not commonly as a standard English word.

Example

The goal is to be able to distinguish between the following:

• English readable software name that follows traditional sentence capitalization applicable for encyclopedic use (e.g. Grep)
• author's preferred or commonly used stylization of software name (e.g. grep)
• name of the published software package, especially if the package name differs from official name
• software name referred as a command in a command-line interface, often uncapitalized (e.g. "use the ls command to list directory contents")
• name of common decision control or looping statements (e.g. "in the 'for' loop")
• stylization of software name found in official trademark or logo, which may not be stylized the same way in the author's official text
• name with numbers as superscripts or subscripts
• name with punctuation

Another goal is to make the following more consistent:

• key codes, keyboard keys, key combinations/shortcuts
• use of various types of code blocks (e.g. various types of inline code blocks used on WP:MOS itself)

Hardware

Computer hardware may include technical names and terms that are often trademarked or part of standardized specifications. These also may not follow conventional English stylization.

• name with numbers as superscripts or subscripts (e.g. I2C)
• acronym or abbreviation as name
• name that have punctuation (e.g. Pop!_OS)
• hardware specifications using standardized units (e.g. GHz, GiB vs GB)