capability of doing v.s. capability to do

[Lost_Soul]

Hi, everyone !

Could you help me with this:
I don’t know which ones are correct…

1. The capability of disposing of an object is frequently useful

2. The capability to dispose of an object is frequently useful

3. This object has a way of closing the resource

4. This object has a way to close the resource

Thank you !

[Alan]

Hi LS,

In both examples I would choose ‘of’ butI’m not all that happy about the wording. Remember also ‘ability to’.

Alan

[Lost_Soul]

Hi, Alan

Thanks for your advice !

Incidentally, did you mean that you would be happier with this wording The ability to dispose of an object is frequently useful ?

PS: I asked this question because I had read this in a book about programming:

C#'s using statement supports the capability to initialize multiple variables as long
as the variables are all of the same type.

Do you think the author of the book is not a native English speaker ?

[Alan]

Hi LS,

What I was really getting at was that (going back to the adjective form) there are two constructions: able to do and capable of doing. As for the English used, to me it has a touch of gobbledegook and sounds very much like the sort of language you get from a translating machine.

Alan