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comp.lang.ruby

Re: I need serious help!

seebs

7/14/2007 2:58:00 AM

In message <46440c255524a060ec6840278884d168@localhost>, MenTaLguY writes:
>On Sat, 14 Jul 2007 11:27:06 +0900, Joe Wiltrout <wiltroutja@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> And how do you know Rome wasn't built in a day? For all you know, it could
>> have been built in 10 seconds flat. No one can prove anything. It's a fact.

>If you can't (at least informally) prove a logical proposition, you've
>got no hope as a programmer.

Strictly speaking, our ability to prove the claim that Rome wasn't built in
a day is contingent on certain assumptions about the consistency of physical
laws, etcetera, etcetera.

Sadly, in this fallen world, we must make a number of assumptions. That is,
assuming that there's a world. And assuming that we want to reach conclusions.
No one has ever proven to my satisfaction that we ought to reach conclusions.

-s
2 Answers

Chad Perrin

7/14/2007 5:59:00 AM

0

On Sat, Jul 14, 2007 at 11:57:47AM +0900, Peter Seebach wrote:
> In message <46440c255524a060ec6840278884d168@localhost>, MenTaLguY writes:
> >On Sat, 14 Jul 2007 11:27:06 +0900, Joe Wiltrout <wiltroutja@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> And how do you know Rome wasn't built in a day? For all you know, it could
> >> have been built in 10 seconds flat. No one can prove anything. It's a fact.
>
> >If you can't (at least informally) prove a logical proposition, you've
> >got no hope as a programmer.
>
> Strictly speaking, our ability to prove the claim that Rome wasn't built in
> a day is contingent on certain assumptions about the consistency of physical
> laws, etcetera, etcetera.
>
> Sadly, in this fallen world, we must make a number of assumptions. That is,
> assuming that there's a world. And assuming that we want to reach conclusions.
> No one has ever proven to my satisfaction that we ought to reach conclusions.

Those assumptions are part of informally proving a logical proposition.
Watch:

1. Assuming A, and
2. Assuming B, then
3. A + B imply C
4. C implies D
5. Therefore, D.

--
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.ap... ]
Kent Beck: "I always knew that one day Smalltalk would replace Java. I
just didn't know it would be called Ruby."

Hal E. Fulton

7/18/2007 9:27:00 PM

0

Peter Seebach wrote:
>
> Strictly speaking, our ability to prove the claim that Rome wasn't built in
> a day is contingent on certain assumptions about the consistency of physical
> laws, etcetera, etcetera.
>
> Sadly, in this fallen world, we must make a number of assumptions. That is,
> assuming that there's a world. And assuming that we want to reach conclusions.
> No one has ever proven to my satisfaction that we ought to reach conclusions.
>

Thank you, Peter, on more than one level.

That reminds me of the old pop quiz question, "Take a position
for or against Truth. Defend your answer."


Hal