Up & Coming Extensions?

Add-ons addons.mozilla.org
#1

“Up & Coming Extensions”.
In plain English, this means extensions that are under development but have not been published, yet. Is that what you really mean? That is, you just cannot get it now.

For example a phrase like “the up and coming Ford Mustang III” means a new model of car that is under development but it not in mass production, yet, and it certainly is not for sale or rental, yet.
The “up and coming President of the United States” means that he has been elected, but he has not entered office, yet, or been sworn in. Hence, he is not really the President, yet.

We really wish that you would be precise in the statements that you make, and that you avoid any kind of ambiguity and slang language.

#2

Up & Coming in this context means something that is new and only recently published. A similar use would be “the up and coming comedian X”, which refers to someone who is only starting in their career.

You have a good point on using very language-specific idioms, though. CC @sdevaney

#3

Interesting, because I have a different issue with the “Up & Coming” nomenclature.

I would argue that the “up and coming Ford Mustang III” is NOT a synonymous use of language. (For a forthcoming product, it would be the “upcoming Ford Mustang III.”)

However, as jorgev illustrated with his using the language convention for an “up & coming comedian” – that intimates there is a certain amount of established buzz around the subject (the comedian is “up & coming” because he’s achieved some level of success that he’s likely to build on).

In the case of “Up & Coming” add-ons, let’s first establish what criteria got them listed in this section, because we also have a “Newest” listing sort that is based on ‘most recently published’. How is that distinct from “Up & Coming” in terms of sorting logic?

#4

I don’t know what the algorithm is, but my guess is that it combines recency with a certain level of popularity. The specifics would be up to the developers to fish out. Maybe @TheOne knows?

#5

I don’t know either. @sdevaney let me know if you want me to dive into the code and find out.

#6

Thanks @TheOne, I think it would be really helpful to know how this list is filtered. When you have the time to look into it, please let us know!

#7

Oh, Jorge, advertisers have their own way of abusing the language and making themselves and
their products look big by using three words, “Up & Coming”, when one word "Upcoming"
would do better. Another possibility is “Forthcoming”.

Have you ever heard announcers say “ahead of” (three syllables) when “before” (two syllables)
is shorter and more precise? Sports announcers on TV and the radio are the world’s worst at
using polysyllabic words and phrases when shorter ones would do better.
My friends in England have told me that the announcers at football soccer games over there
are even worse than they are here and in Canada.

Dale

#8

Hi, there,
I agree with both of you about the phrase “up and coming”. In show business, that is part of the HYPE
that is piled on by people who babble a lot but don’t do very much. (In other words, they are not actors,
singers, directors, producers, cameramen, lighting experts, sound experts, special effects experts, etc.)

For example, they spout out “up and coming actor/actress” or “up and coming singer/dancer”,
when that person is nobody whom I have heard of, and nobody I know has heard of/him her, either.
Also, nine times out of ten, that person is neither seen or heard of very much in the future.

I do remember an “up and coming” computer language called ADA. It even had the backing of
the U.S. Department of Defense, but ADA never did get significant usage. It had a ton of problems.
Among others, EVERY variable had to have its “type” declared in some sort of list.
It wasn’t like the languages similar to Fortran in which certain variables have their default types
unless declared otherwise. In Fortran, variables with names starting with the letters I - N are
automatically integers, and otherwise they are floating-point numbers. (A - H and O - Z).
In other languages like BASIC, you don’t have to declare any variables, unless you need
to use something like double precision numbers.

Dale

#9

As the code to calculate the “Up and coming” section is not trivial, I am referring to the comment that comes with it:

The add-ons with the highest hotness value show up in the Up & Coming section.

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