[Haskell-cafe] the problem of design by negation

[ajb at spamcop.net]

G'day all.

Quoting Conal Elliott <conal at conal.net>:

> The main objection I have to the negative process (can't be done) is that is
> so often bogus.  "Proof by lack of imagination".  I guess it works for
> Richard, though not for Michael's architect, because Richard is able to
> catch his bogus reasoning *and he is willing*** to do so, which requires
> humility and ego-strength.

Conal is definitely on to something here.  I've noticed that the best
designers have this weird personality quirk that allows them to put all
of their effort into pushing an idea, and then instantly back down and
revise the moment that it's been shown that the idea won't work.

Cheers,
Andrew Bromage