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by LorenDB·3y ago·view on hn ↗
> Symbols are very useful in commit messages because they can convey a message at a glance that would otherwise require parsing the message.

A good commit message doesn't need symbols to tell you what it is doing. (And no, I don't write perfect commit messages.)

> Once we’re there, how is it better to use things like Chinese characters rather than emojis?

Because there are quite a lot of people in this world who speak Chinese but not English, while nobody speaks only emoji.

> On balance, it is better that they are supported properly even if you personally dislike them.

To be clear, I'm not against emoji or Unicode in general. I just dislike the way they seem to be showing up in commit messages and the like as attributes.

1 comments
> Because there are quite a lot of people in this world who speak Chinese but not English, while nobody speaks only emoji.

And even more people using emojis. Fundamentally, as a native speaker of a European language, there is no meaningful distinction between using fancy image characters and fancy characters that look like symbols. The fact that someone somewhere is using them or not is not very relevant.

> To be clear, I'm not against emoji or Unicode in general. I just dislike the way they seem to be showing up in commit messages and the like as attributes.

Right, but then that’s something you solve by policing the commit messages in your projects. Not by policing how other people you’ll never meet express their ideas or emotions.