From: Henry Maddocks <henryj@...>
Date: 2006-12-18T15:17:03+09:00
Subject: Re: hpricot problem

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On 18/12/2006, at 8:35 AM, Paul Lutus wrote:

> Yes, unfortunately none of them would successfully answer this OP's  
> call
> from the real world. Libraries are the obvious solution to this  
> kind of
> task. They have everything going for them, up to, but not  
> including, the
> moment when they fail to meet the user's requirements.
>
> I have to say that I see a lot of posts that follow this pattern. The
> library seems to be able to solve any number of difficult problems  
> except
> the specific problem the user happens to be facing.

Every solution works up until the point that it doesn't. If life  
wasn't like that we wouldn't have much to.


> And my typical offered, simple solution is not meant to, and cannot  
> stand in
> for, the 2^32 special cases that have been laboriously programmed  
> into the
> library. It can only provide an overlooked special need that the  
> library
> cannot provide. It's surprising to me how often this happens.

Which is why I posted my test case. To knock one more special case  
off the list.
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