Re: [TUHS] [Haskell-cafe] Terminator syntax style (Was: Nested (=>) (Was: On finding the right exposition...))

Re: [TUHS] [Haskell-cafe] Terminator syntax style (Was: Nested (=>) (Was: On finding the right exposition...))

[Douglas McIlroy]

Apropos of  "finding the right  exposition"!, consider the cited wiki article:

       Separator: There is a symbol between each element.

The more carefully you read this the more it becomes nonsense.

1, "Each element" is an individual. You can't put something between an
individual.

2 The defining sentence states a property of a representation of a
sequence. It fails to indicate that "separator" is the symbol's role.

In fact what's being defined is "separator notation", not the bare
word "separator". This usage appears only later in the article. It
should be employed throughout--most importantly in the title and the
definition. The same goes for "terminator".

Doug

Re: [TUHS] [Haskell-cafe] Terminator syntax style (Was: Nested (=>) (Was: On finding the right exposition...))

[William Cheswick]

Doug, if you insist on applying your superb editing skills on wiki material, we will never hear from you again!

> On Oct 7, 2021, at 9:50 AM, Douglas McIlroy <douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote:
> 
> Apropos of  "finding the right  exposition"!, consider the cited wiki article:
> 
>       Separator: There is a symbol between each element.
> 
> The more carefully you read this the more it becomes nonsense.
> 
> 1, "Each element" is an individual. You can't put something between an
> individual.
> 
> 2 The defining sentence states a property of a representation of a
> sequence. It fails to indicate that "separator" is the symbol's role.
> 
> In fact what's being defined is "separator notation", not the bare
> word "separator". This usage appears only later in the article. It
> should be employed throughout--most importantly in the title and the
> definition. The same goes for "terminator".
> 
> Doug

Re: [TUHS] [Haskell-cafe] Terminator syntax style (Was: Nested (=>) (Was: On finding the right exposition...))

[John Cowan]

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On Thu, Oct 7, 2021 at 9:51 AM Douglas McIlroy <
douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote:


> The more carefully you read this the more it becomes nonsense.
>
> 1, "Each element" is an individual. You can't put something between an
> individual.
>

"Between each" has been part of Standard English for a thousand years, and
still is today.

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Re: [TUHS] [Haskell-cafe] Terminator syntax style (Was: Nested (=>) (Was: On finding the right exposition...))

[Norman Wilson]

John Cowan:

  "Between each" has been part of Standard English for a thousand years, and
  still is today.

====

As in between each pair of elements, or between each element?

The latter strikes me rather like the currently-in-vogue phrase
`one of the only': it may have a defined meaning, but it sure
sounds distractingly stupid.  (If it's one of the group at all,
it's by definition one of the only members; if what is meant is
one of the few, then say so, dammit.)

It's rather like obfuscated C, or nearly any use of Perl: sure,
you can write it to require extra mental effort to make sense of
it, but there are simpler ways to be rude.

Norman Wilson
Toronto ON

Please, sir, I'd like to join The Few.
I'm sorry, there are far too many.