Re: In praise of 'nil' (Was: Proposal for table length operator

[David Kastrup <dak@...>]

Axel Kittenberger <axkibe@gmail.com> writes:

> This is getting philosophical more than technical.
>
> Nil is not "unknown" but "no entry". If a table returns nil it has
> sure no entry and not entry unknown.
>
> If asked in coding logic what waa before the big bang. The appropriate
> answer would be an exception, not nil. Same as 0 divided by 0 is error
> and not nil.
>
> Coders and their different notions about zero is from outside just as
> funny as their need for a half a dozen different brackets.
> 0,

Nilpotent under addition.

> nil,

Nilpotent under table appending.

> ""

Nilpotent under string concatenation

> and {}

Nilpotent under array concatenation

> all mean in some very different way nothing.

Not in a different way, but in different contexts.

Do you have a problem with us writing 0 in mathematics for the neutral
element in addition, "but" 1 for the neutral element in multiplication?

-- 
David Kastrup