Re: [PATCH] Don't ignore write failure from git-diff, git-log, etc.

From: Nicolas Pitre <nico@cam.org>
Date: May 27, 2007, 03:03 UTC
Message-ID: <alpine.LFD.0.99.0705262243530.3366@xanadu.home>
In-Reply-To: <7vk5uvjy0g.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>

On Sat, 26 May 2007, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 19 quoted lines

> Once you learn to _visualize_ the ordering relationship in "X op
> Y" by relying on "op" being always < or <=, you will get the
> "number line" pop in your head whenever you see a comparision
> expression, without even having to think about it, and you "see"
> X and Y on the number line:
> 
>         ... -2        -1         0         1         2  ...  
>     ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
>     true:                        0   <=  fcntl(...)
> 
> 
>         ... -2        -1         0         1         2  ...  
>     ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
>     false:    (0 <= fcntl(...))
> 
> What the comparison is doing comes naturally to you, without
> even having to translate it back to human language "X is larger
> (or smaller) than this constant".  The ordering is right there,
> in front of your eyes, before you vocalize it.

Well... it probably depends on how your brain is wired up.

I completely agree with your reasoning. It _should_ indeed be natural and more obvious to always put things in increasing order.

BUT it is not how my brain is connected, and after many attempts I just cannot work efficiently with your method. It simply doesn't come out logical for me and I have to spend an unusual amount of time on every occasion I encounter this structure to really get it. To me it always looks backward.

And I suspect the majority of people who just cannot train their brain with the arguably superior representation are many, probably the majority. It appears to be the case for Linus. It is definitely the case for me.

Nicolas, who apologizes for his defective brain.