Tech vocabulary

January 24, 2025

"Blazing"
What you meant: Very fast.
What it comes across as: This term in particular is overused to describe software that isn't particularly fast in any useful sense, but which has random micro-optimizations that don't matter.
What to do instead: If it's actually fast, just say fast, and describe what it's fast in relation to.

"Modern"
What you meant: New, which implies good under the assumption that newer is implicitly better? Or maybe it means based on newer design principles? I actually struggled on this one for a while and I think it's most often used to just mean good in general, nonspecific ways...?
What it comes across as: New for the sake of being new, possibly with new bugs. Ignorant of the past. An empty filler word.
What to do instead: Describe the actual difference. When new things are good, it's because of specific benefits such as active maintenance, a new take on an old problem, a reduced and focused scope by discarding previous compatibility concerns, etc.

"Isomorphic"
What you meant: The same as, or matching.
What it comes across as: Abusing a math term because it looks cool. Sesquipedalianism.
What to do instead: Isomorphim is a technical term that describes a specific scenario distinct from equality. Similar terms like "equivalent" or "one-to-one" can often better express the intended idea.

"Magic"
What you meant: Something with surprisingly helpful behavior.
What it comes across as: Something with surprisingly unpredictable behavior.
What to do instead: Perhaps "intuitive", or something like "handles common configuration out of the box". For most things I work with, the descriptive words "simple" and "predictable" have more sparkle to them than "magical".