Re: Reminder, blatant ad

dawn wrote:
> x wrote:
> >
> > > > What are the basic operations for combining lists and sets ?
> >
> > > The ones that come with any general purpose programming language.
> > Can you make a list or a set with them and post it ?
>
> That would take a smarter man than I. I'd be fine with the java.lang
> libraries. They are well documented. ;-)

(You probably meant java.util; specifically the "Collections API.")

The collections API is quite an achievement, and is IMHO a significant contributor to Java's overall success. But it doesn't qualify as a foundational set of operations. It's goal is maximal inclusiveness and convenience; not minimal completeness.

I think a good case can be made for the basic operations on set being the union, intersection, difference; for relations being the relational algebra, and for lists being simply car, cdr, cons. How you would combine operations on lists and sets is an open question in my mind. Can natural join be applied to a pair of lists?

> > Why not asking for a model to support all mathematics ?
>
> Again, I'm good with programming languages and libraries thereof.

Ha! How are these different? Riddle: I want a way to express all computable functions. Am I a mathematician or a programmer?

Marshall Received on Sat Feb 04 2006 - 19:35:22 CET