On Wednesday, 18 December 2013 at 19:47:05 UTC, Andrei
Alexandrescu wrote:
I don't think so. Algebraic properties have been derived from
desirable and useful properties and have long shown good
returns.
No, when you change the foundation/definitions some of the
theorems will break. That always happens. I can't think of a
single example where that does not happen.
Some theorems are more important to uphold than others, it is a
good thing to avoid breaking DeMorgans for instance.
Breaking algebraic properties based on ad-hoc arguments of
usefulness will guarantee the type won't work with many
standard algorithms (sort etc) and will never cease to surprise
its users.
Not sure what you mean by ad-hoc? It is so by definition? You are
the one arguing for ad hoc… It does not make sense to turn to
interval-algebra if you want
range-like-ad-hoc-programmers-semantics? If you implement
interval-algebra it should be… interval-algebra, and usable a
such?
