Re: integer exponentiation with negative exponent

[Dirk Laurie <dirk.laurie@...>]

2014-04-14 10:19 GMT+02:00 Justin Cormack <justin@specialbusservice.com>:
> On Mon, Apr 14, 2014 at 8:53 AM, Dirk Laurie <dirk.laurie@gmail.com> wrote:
>> So which is more typical of The Lua Way: consistent but useless,
>> or pragmatic and useful?

> I agree with Roberto, consistent types is more important. If you
> cannot tell if something will return float or int you can then no
> longer reason about other stuff that depends on it. Anyone trying to
> do static analysis on Lua code will have a hard time too.

Not every paragraph starting "I agree with Roberto" actually
does what it says.  In particular, the above contribution fails to
quote the conclusion of that post of Roberto's:

> To make 2^3 an integer and 2^-3 a float breaks that guideline.
> But maybe that case is worth the break.

It is Justin's right to disagree with me and value consistency
above usefulness — but not to claim Roberto's support in doing
so. Roberto has left the question open. "But maybe".