Re: Terminology for composite attributes

From: Paul <paul_at_test.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:53:18 +0000
Message-ID: <4243ed9f$0$94441$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net>

Gene Wirchenko wrote:
>>>OK, that works. I like that this term is used with functions and
>>>graphs too, but I don't like that "arity" sounds a bit pretentious or
>>>academic. I've never heard a software developer use the term arity,
>>>even when talking about number of parameters.
>>
>>I think the etymology of the term is from the endings of "unary",
>>"binary", "ternary" "denary" etc. Then an "it" was stuck in for some
>>reason, maybe the word "ary" sounded too silly.

> 
>      "-ity" is a standard suffix.  Consider "regular" -> "regularity",
> "bogus" -> "bogosity", and more.

Ah, so it's actually from "ary-ity" and the inside "y" was dropped? Sounds plausible. Or maybe there was a noun "binar" with a corresponding adjective "binary"?

Paul. Received on Fri Mar 25 2005 - 04:53:18 CST