Re: Ambiguity (what else!?) question

Steven Pemberton <steven.pemberton@cwi.nl> writes:
> ; is not or! A rule is a list of alternatives, separated by semicolons; like CSS. I suppose you could read it as 'or' if you wanted, but nowhere is it defined as an 'or'.

That seems like splitting hairs. I think lots of users would look
at 

  S: a ; b ; c .

and say that an “S” is an “a” or a “b” or a “c”. (That *is* what it means.) It isn’t necessary for the semicolon to be defined in some formal way as literally an “or” operator in order for it to be useful to understand “;” as “or”.

> And by the way, '|' is an option for people who have trouble with semicolons.

Are you having a bad day? Saying “people who have trouble with” sounds awfully patronizing.

> The notation dates from at least the mid-60's, and predates prolog.

I don’t know enough prolog to have anything to add, but I didn’t take Liam’s comment about prolog as some sort of assertion about the ultimate origin of “;”.

                                        Be seeing you,
                                          norm

--
Norm Tovey-Walsh
Saxonica

Received on Wednesday, 29 January 2025 16:39:41 UTC