From: Tom Cloyd <tomcloyd@...>
Date: 2008-06-17T16:09:45+09:00
Subject: Re: print(true and true) #=> the parenthesis issue

Robert Klemme wrote:

[snip]
> That makes sense, and yes, that I realized. In print() parenthesis are
>> enclosing the args, whereas in print () parenthesis are affecting
>> precedence of passed-in expression. However, from the usability
>> perspective, isn't it against some basic nature laws to leave it like
>> this?
>
> There are no nature laws in IT.
>
Absolute nonsense.

IT is not an entity unto itself. It is an artifact of the human brain. 
Furthermore, it must be USED by the human brain, else it is the 
proverbial tree falling in the forest when no one's around, and thus has 
no consequence. AND the human brain certainly does have laws, if by 
"laws" we mean something like "statements of pattern possessing a high 
probability of being true" (my definition). Philosophical idealists will 
not be satisfied by that, but such children should be ignored. Real men 
live with probability, as a fact of life. (Are we having fun yet?) 
So...natural law of IT exist, because all of IT must pass through the 
filter of the human brain.

 From that point reasonable point of view, we could well have the 
usability problem mentioned. I, for one, find this parenthesis problem 
obscure in the extreme. What happened to the principal of least 
surprise? Yikes.

Keep it simple, when at all possible.

t.

-- 

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