Re: [Groff] problem with preconv and sample_docs.mom

[Bjarni Ingi Gislason]

On Sun, Nov 05, 2017 at 09:49:06AM -0500, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> At 2017-11-05T15:09:41+0100, Bertrand Garrigues wrote:
> >    if (len == 0)
> > -    return NULL;
> > +    goto end;
> 
> We're kind of giving a hostage to fortune here, aren't we?
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreachable_code#goto_fail_bug
> 
> Can I beg a pair of braces there in case someone in the future decides
> that loop needs to do just _one_ more tiny little thing?
> 
  I second that.

  A pseudo (visual) structure collapses when irrelevant characters are
removed (stripped).

  I have made mistakes when I added a diagnostic message after an intended
command line in an one-line if-statement.

  So if I am going to learn from my mistakes (errors, stupidity) I solve
this by always using a permanent block construct.
  Am I thus being more stupid or more wise?

# Citation:

        Any fool can learn from his own experience;
        The wise man learns from the experience of others.

I do not believe that the first line of this adage is correct;
too many seem unable to do so.  But the second line is usually
right on.  It took mankind thousands of years to learn concepts
which we can teach to small children, such as the ideas of
writing and alphabetic writing.  The same holds for mathematical
concepts and the important mathematical notation.

Herman Rubin in the Usenet forum "misc.education"

# Similar one from Herman Rubin:

Personally, I believe the first line is false, but the
second is what is needed for a good education.

In the sciences, authority counts for little.  Quoting
Newton will not avail, unless he was correct in that
instance.  He was not always correct.

# End quotations


  People say something like "this is not used in this project", but never
provide a proof or a reference to one, why the used (old) one is the best
forever.

  Why is no evolution of code writing allowed in an already written code?

  Should computer code writing not be based on science, is "computer
science" (at least the software part) not a scientific endeavour, but more
of a belief system (religion, the Church of the Computer Science)?

  Using a different style in open software may be used if it is better, less
error prone, more future-proof.

  Can't people read (understand) a different style any more?

  So ask for a proof of the superiority of a pseudo structure and other used
styles.

  Add a explanation for using an explicit block design.  This will inform in
times of paradigm changes, when dogmas are being questioned.

  This year 5 centuries are since Martin Luther challenged procedures of the
Catholic Church.

  When will the dogmas of coding styles be challenged.  (We have science
now!)

# Quotations

"This second radical novelty shares the usual fate of all
radical novelties: it is denied, because its truth would be
too discomforting.
I have no idea what this specific denial and disbelief costs
the United States, but a million dollars a day seems a modest
guess."

Page xxix in:

On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computing Science

Edsger W. Dykstra (Dijkstra)

SIGCSE Bulletin 1989, 21(1), pp. xxv-xxxix.
See also "www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/"
#
  "Since breaking out of bad habits, rather than acquiring new
ones, is the toughest part of learning we must expect from that
system permanent mental damage for most students exposed to
it."

Page xxxvii in:

On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computing Science

Edsger W. Dykstra (Dijkstra)

SIGCSE Bulletin 1989, 21(1), pp. xxv-xxxix.
See also "www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/"
#
  "The problems of the real world are primarily those you are
left with when you refuse to apply their effective solutions."

Page xxxviii in:

On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computing Science

Edsger W. Dykstra (Dijkstra)

SIGCSE Bulletin 1989, 21(1), pp. xxv-xxxix.
See also "www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/"

-- 
Bjarni I. Gislason