It is certainly true that I talked about making decisions on the basis of
single-character values.
I also mentioned that the same simple technique could be used mutatis
mutandis for two-character values. As an example of such an application,
consider the standard set of two-character Canadian Provincial and
Territorial abbreviations:
Alberta AB
British Columbia BC
Manitoba MB
New Brunswick NB
Newfoundland and Labrador NL
Northwest Territories NT
Nova Scotia NS
Nunavut NU
Ontario ON
Prince Edward Island PE
Quebec QC
Saskatchewan SK
Yukon YT
For it replacing a TR instruction by a TRTO yields a recognizer, and the
same thing is possible with the 56 U.S. Postal Service 'state' codes (which
include 'DC', 'GU', 'PR', etc.), new-style two-character internet domain
names, ISO standard two-character country abbreviations, etc., etc.
My original intent, which ought to have been clear to any experienced
reader, was not to interdict all use of if-then-else. It was to make clear
that the performance of nested if-then-else-if . . . constructs is poor by
substituting a little secondary-school algebra for anecdotage.
This said, Patrick O'Keefe's point is an important one. Versions of the
scheme I set out can be, often are, used as the first stage of more complex
multiple-character recognition schemes.
I did not respond to Tom Marchant's response to my OP because, after one set
of exchanges with him that generated much more heat than light, I judged
that another one would be at least equally unlikely to shed light on this
issue.
Mr. Marchant does, however, play a useful role here., It is indeed so
useful that if he did not exist it would be necessary to invent him.
His contributions are predictable, but they exemplify a practically
important point of view that, borrowing a useful term from C Wright Mills, I
shall call Crackpot Realism; and CR needs representation here. We need to
be reminded, often, that those who identify the hard-to-maintain with
'complexity', with the use of any but ad hoc schemes, are numerous out there
in the boondocks.
John Gilmore
Ashland, MA 01721-1817
USA
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