Computer science uses the term "persistence" to describe, basically, data that sticks around after the device is turned off. The corresponding verb is "to persist".
What I'm looking for is a noun to describe the object doing the persisting. Should it be persister or persistor? And more importantly, why?
"Persister" is actually recognized by the dictionary and the spell-checker, so it would seem to be the obvious choice. It is also far more common on a NGram comparison. However, most of the uses appear to be education-related (one who persists with their education) or biology-related, not computer-related.
On the other hand, a Google search for "persistor" turns up mainly computer science results, like Persistor.Net and mongo-persistor. Personally, this usage feels like a more intuitive spelling, perhaps due to the correspondence with "actor".
I know from this related question about -er and -or that both are valid suffixes to form an "agent noun" and that -er is more common in English. But does that make -er more correct in this case? Is there some linguistic reason driving the more prevalent use of -or in computer science circles, or is it simply a stylistic choice?
Best Answer
I don't know that this is supported by any authority, but I feel that "persister" means "something that persists", whereas "persistor" means "something that provides persistence".
That said, I am a computer professional and this may just be in the realm of jargon.