>>>>> "Arnaud" == Arnaud Delobelle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> >> Ha - you can't have it both ways Arnaud! You don't want the computation to >> go negative... doesn't that (and my "proof") have something to do with the >> inverse nature of add and sub? :-)
Arnaud> I think I can have it both ways, here's why: the "big then small" Arnaud> and "no negatives" rules are applied indiscriminately by the Arnaud> algorithm: it doesn't need to know about the history of operations Arnaud> in order to make a decision depending on their nature. OTOH, Arnaud> identifying (a + b) - c and a + (b - c) for example, requires Arnaud> inspection of the stack/tree/ calculation history. It is an Arnaud> *informed* decision made by the algorithm But this is having it both ways too :-) The reason the algorithm can do it indiscriminately is because *you* know that it always applies, and *you* figure out and implement the algorithm that way. The algorithm doesn't have a mind of its own, after all. BTW, there are some very important issues here. One is about representation (thinking about representation is one of my pet vices). When you try to solve some real-world problem with a computer, you must choose a representation. What many people seem to fail to recognize is that in so doing you've already begun to solve the problem. If you pick a better representation, your algorithm can potentially be much dumber and still be hugely faster than a brilliant algorithm on a terrible representation. In maintaining an A > B invariant in operations A + B and A * B, you're using insight into the problem to influence representation. With that better representation, your algorithm doesn't have to do so much work. I wrote some more about this a while ago at http://www.fluidinfo.com/terry/2007/03/19/why-data-information-representation-is-the-key-to-the-coming-semantic-web/ Arnaud> Note that disallowing 0 and disallowing x - x are equivalent, as Arnaud> the only way to get your first 0 is by doing x - x. That depends. I allow negative numbers in the input, and also 0 (I just don't let you use it :-)) Arnaud> Thanks for the discussion, it's made me realise more clearly what I Arnaud> was doing. Me too! Thanks. Terry -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
