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Comment by VerifiedReports

5 days ago

It's "key/value store", FYI

It's not a store of "keys or values", no. It's a store of key-value pairs.

  • A key-value store would be a store of one thing: key values. A hyphen combines two words to make an adjective, which describes the word that follows:

      A used-car lot
    
      A value-added tax
    
      A key-based access system
    

    When you have two exclusive options, two sides to a situation, or separate things; you separate them with a slash:

      An on/off switch
    
      A win/win situation
    
      A master/slave arrangement
    

    Therefore a key-value store and a key/value store are quite different.

    • All of your slash examples represent either–or situations. A swich turns it on or off, the situation is a win in the first outcome or a win in the second outcome, etc.

      It's true that key–value store shouldn't be written with a hyphen. It should be written with an en dash, which is used "to contrast values or illustrate a relationship between two things [... e.g.] Mother–daughter relationship"

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#En_dash

      I just didn't want to bother with typography at that level of pedanticism.

      4 replies →

Wikipedia seems to find "key-value store" an appropriate term.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key%E2%80%93value_database

  • See above.

    • Still not sure what point you're trying to make. You attempted to correct GP's usage of "key-value store" and I merely pointed out that it is the widely accepted term for what is being discussed.

      Whether or not it's semantically "correct" because of usage of hyphen vs slash is irrelevant to that point.