Re: Thinking about MINUS
Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2007 11:19:02 -0800
Message-ID: <tuo7q2t26q9p79kh87miduibv85psh6nfv_at_4ax.com>
Bob Badour <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca> wrote:
[snip]
>Unless we make one up, we have no + operation that operates on numbers
>and strings. Similarly, we have no < comparison that operates on numbers
>and strings. However, the equality comparison operates on any two values
>(unless we go out of our way to redefine it otherwise.)
>
>Semantically, it makes no sense to say "This orange is less than that
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^orange is less than that apple", unless we have defined a less than operator.' For example, the comparison might be of weight or of cost.
>apple"; however, it makes perfect sense to say "This orange is not that
^^^^^^ I would substitute 'Similarly, it makes no sense to say "This
>apple". If someone asks "Is this orange less than that apple?", we have
>a question we can parse but neither interpret nor answer. If someone
>asks "Is this orange that apple?", we have a question we can parse,
>interpret and answer correctly: "No, it is not."
[snip]
>Agreed. In fact, if I recall correctly, someone once determined that the
>lint warning for unused local variables correlated more with bugs than
>any other warning or error message. Of course, that might be urban
>legend. (I am relying solely on a ~20 year old memory, and I doubt I
>read the original work.)
It does take some doing to declare a variable and never use it. The reverse is more common, but it gets flagged by many compilers.
[snip]
>If you have not read it yet, I highly recommend this recent essay by
>Hugh Darwen:
>http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~hugh/TTM/HAVING-A-Blunderful-Time.html
Thank you.
[snip]
>A bit of meat, cheese and a cracker might prove more effective without
>the alcohol. A bit of fruit and a slice of ham should do the trick too.
It is getting a bit late for holiday leftovers.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.
Received on Tue Jan 09 2007 - 20:19:02 CET