What is Orthogonal (Exactly)?
Date: 15 Jun 2002 09:08:28 -0700
Message-ID: <a6e74506.0206150808.5d42abd4_at_posting.google.com>
I would like to know what orthogonal means as exactly as possible. And what is the minimum number of thing(s) required in the concept of orthogonality. The following definition from searchStorage.com as a seed for dicussion:
[ In geometry, orthogonal means "involving right angles" (from Greek ortho, meaning right, and gon meaning angled). The term has been extended to general use, meaning the characteristic of being independent (relative to something else). It also can mean: non-redundant, non-overlapping, or irrelevant. In computer terminology, something - such as a programming language or a data object - is orthogonal if it can be used without consideration as to how its use will affect something else.
In itself, a programming language is orthogonal if its features can be used without thinking about how that usage will affect other features. Pascal is sometimes considered to be an orthogonal language, while C++ is considered to be a non-orthogonal language. ]
TIA Received on Sat Jun 15 2002 - 18:08:28 CEST