Re: Comments on ioctl (was: Re: big issue (2001-09-28#13))

>On Monday, October 8, 2001, at 08:02  AM, Martyn Horner wrote:
>
>>Maybe I missed something in the argument but does `denotation' 
>>distinguish between numerals (literals) denoting numbers and 
>>numerals (literals) denoting, say, dates. So the literal "20001225" 
>>has, at least, two denotations? Does this invalidate this 
>>definition? Do you mean `unique denotation'? If you don't, how does 
>>this definition stay valid?
>
>It's my belief that the literal "20001225" denotes itself, and 
>properties like :creationDate are really shorthand for 
>:creationDateStringInXXXForm .

That is certainly a coherent position. Literals are self-denoting 
character strings, but they can have properties. That makes perfect 
semantic sense and would simplify the model theory, if anything. 
However it means that numerals don't denote numbers, which will be 
widely thought to be a bummer, I suspect.

Pat


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Received on Monday, 8 October 2001 20:47:53 UTC