From: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 14:00:34 GMT
Subject: Re: On boolean configuration variables...
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.63.0606251553110.29667@wbgn013.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de>
In-Reply-To: <e7m3b6$eoa$1@sea.gmane.org>

Hi,

On Sun, 25 Jun 2006, Anand Kumria wrote:

> Allowing 'yes' and 'no' to equal 'true' and 'false' respectively sounds
> pretty sane and user-friendly.
> 
> Why wouldn't you want to do that?

'Cause you'd have to add "maybe", too ;-)

Seriously, there is a subtle side to booleans, which is the reason that 
they typically take on only "false" and "true": Consider the question "Is 
the box not red?". If the answer is "yes", I do not know if "yes, the box 
is red" or "yes, the box is not red".

"true" and "false" are less ambiguous.

Ciao,
Dscho