[Haskell-cafe] Specify array or list size?

[Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho]

On 20050507T151723-0400, Daniel Carrera wrote:
> Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho wrote:
> 
> >Your mistake is the "start talking about groups as you do in every day
> >English" part.
> 
> The point I'm trying to make is that you can't necessarily predict that 
> a programming language will abscribe special meaning to standard known 
> words like "group" or "list".

*My* point is that if you have any experience with any technological or
science topic, you'll know that terms tend to have specialized meanings
in jargons, and you'll know to look for it.

> I can very well talk about a list without knowing that the members of
> this list (see?) might have a special meaning for that word that I'm
> not aware of. You can't possibly forsee that sort of thing. 

Yes you can.  You can't foresee the particular case, but you can think
ahead and *expect* to find a specialized meaning.

> I can't possibly know that an Algebraist has a particular definition
> of "group" that differs from every-day use.

No, but you can make a fair guess that whatever the definition is, it
does not match everyday use.

-- 
Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho                  http://antti-juhani.kaijanaho.info/

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