[REBOL] Re: Correct Behaviour? Was False = 2 ????
From: kenneth:nwinet at: 2-Jul-2001 21:14
FWIW, I'd like to add my voice...
If I'm counting something I may have one of them, but if I'm ordering
something the first element has to be zero. Starting the count from 1 is as
arbitrary as starting at negative five (other than the direct mapping to a
count) in all other cases I can think of, starting from zero produces
cleaner code. I think the Roman numeral analogy is more than apt.
Backward compatability is more an issue with a scripting language, but I'd
hope for a number of reasons that a switch option base not be added.
Consider my chad to be completely removed on this point (as if I had a vote
;-)
Mapping True/False to numbers? If we can ignore the pesky undefines then
the universal set can either be defined as (true and not true) or (false and
not false.) Of course, it doesn't have to be integers we map to... True [ 42, 3.14159,
www.rebol.com ] everything else is False! Then we have the
rebol way...
both zero and one are true!
not 0 ; = false
not not 0 ; = true
not 1 ; = false
not not 1 ; = true
then again this works for any defined value AFAIK.
And along with Or seem to work in a bitwise fashion so I don't believe they
can be used to prove anything regarding rebols mapping of values to
booleans. My guiding principle is what leads to cleaner code so I'd look
for counter example to using an integer zero for false and anything else for
true. Bitwise logic can't be used here because it doesn't promote the value
to a true boolean before performing it's action leading to apparent
inconsistancies (ANDing two or more true values may result in a false.)
1 and 2 ; = false
So my question is, how does a boolean value that doesn't map to integers
have any validity with regard to a series? Why wouldn't it lead to a
scripting error rather than some arbitrary behavior? It seems to me there
is an implied mapping in this train of thought....
a: [1 2 3]
pick a 1 ; = 1
pick a false ; = 1
pick a 2 ; = 2
pick a true; = 2
What do I see? Looking at it slideways I see false = 0 and true = 1 and a
series being counted with the first element being the zeroth. What sees the
light of day may be another matter. Does this make sense to anyone else?
Regards,
Ken.
