That's funny, I get an empty vector in J and APL for 5+''. Getting a 5 might be usefull/interesting.
On Fri, Dec 15, 2017 at 8:05 PM, Henry Rich <[email protected]> wrote: > The current behavior was designed to make sure that > > 5 + '' > 5 > > doesn't throw an error. This is a 55-year-old APL idiom. > > Henry Rich > > On 12/15/2017 7:03 PM, Raul Miller wrote: > >> I've been thinking about this, and I am slightly convinced. >> >> That said, I would be interested in seeing a real example where this >> matters. >> >> Specifically: in this example you are getting an empty noun with a >> rank lower than what you should otherwise expect. >> >> That suggests one of two likely treatments: >> >> (a) The unintended shape causes an error. >> >> (b) The unintended shape gets treated as an empty result. >> >> (If the programmer has been coding defensively (which is to say not >> expecting deep understanding of the mechanisms of connected >> components) then I do not see how your proposal changes the picture.) >> >> It could of course - but that's why I'd like to see a real example. >> >> (Of course, none of this is an excuse for not testing code against >> boundary conditions.) >> >> Thanks, >> >> > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by AVG. > http://www.avg.com > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
