I can't not pull you up on defining "but" with a sentence involving "but" :-þ
LOL. Yes, I recognised the irony. However, I don't think I'm explaining "but" to someone who doesn't know what it means. I think we all know intuitively what it means, and are now trying to formalise that to a theoretical explanation. So there's no reason to avoid it :)
I think the real point is that the distinction between 'and' and 'but' doesn't really have any effect on the meaning of a question
That sounds right, but DO you use "but" in a question? What does that mean?
perhaps we should permit 'but' in programming languages as a synonym for 'and' – and the distinction between the two functions purely as a comment to the reader
That's an interesting question. I think it's often really useful to have synonyms with the same semantic content, but which convey extra information to the reader about what is the INTENDED meaning. But also can be really confusing if they're used randomly or differently in different contexts.
So if "but" would convey extra, it might be nice. But *would* you want to use it?
Something like, "if ( a is not null but a.b is null) then a.b = new ..."?
no subject
Date: 2014-02-17 04:02 pm (UTC)LOL. Yes, I recognised the irony. However, I don't think I'm explaining "but" to someone who doesn't know what it means. I think we all know intuitively what it means, and are now trying to formalise that to a theoretical explanation. So there's no reason to avoid it :)
I think the real point is that the distinction between 'and' and 'but' doesn't really have any effect on the meaning of a question
That sounds right, but DO you use "but" in a question? What does that mean?
perhaps we should permit 'but' in programming languages as a synonym for 'and' – and the distinction between the two functions purely as a comment to the reader
That's an interesting question. I think it's often really useful to have synonyms with the same semantic content, but which convey extra information to the reader about what is the INTENDED meaning. But also can be really confusing if they're used randomly or differently in different contexts.
So if "but" would convey extra, it might be nice. But *would* you want to use it?
Something like, "if ( a is not null but a.b is null) then a.b = new ..."?