Re: [xsl] () eq () vs () = ()

[Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

On 9/30/2011 7:00 AM, David Carlisle wrote:
> So, each operator (with the possible exception of eq, which would
> perhaps most naturally have been defined to be an error on () eq () )
> has a natural justification, and so the user will never be confused and
> order is restored to the universe...

Mm. :-) The user who understands and accepts the rationale.

Designing a system for use by people who do not fully understand is 
indeed an art. Method and consistency are important, but they only get 
you so far.

This I know from experience since I am a user who only understands so 
much ... though I dare say this is true of all of us eventually (even 
Michael Kay) and XSLT actually works amazingly well, in general, in a 
situation of partial knowledge. It does help to know what you don't know.

FWIW, I disagree with Andrew (or at any rate the earlier Andrew, before 
he understood) that () = () being false suggests that deep-equal((),()) 
should also be false; I see deep-equal() as being a different critter 
from = and that's the point. But I agree with David that () eq () giving 
an error might have been more "intuitive" for people like me (even if it 
is me, not the technology, that has to be intuitive).

Oh, "to make things cozy for SQL people". I see. (Did I say something 
about people who don't understand? Should I have said something about 
people who understand something else?)

Cheers,
Wendell

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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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