On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 8:16 AM, Michael Kay <mike(_at_)saxonica(_dot_)com>
wrote:
On 3 Feb 2014, at 07:18, Ihe Onwuka <ihe(_dot_)onwuka(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>
wrote:
If indeed except is equivalent to the set-theoretic difference
operator would it be beyond the pale to admit difference into the
syntax as a synonym for except.
You haven't answered my post in which I attempted to show that the XPath
usage of "except" was consistent with the natural language use of the term.
To me the natural language interpretation of except has the RHS of the
except interpreted within the context of the LHS. If you are talking
natural language - natural language interpretations don't allow for
XPath abbreviations and if I read you rightly you are saying this
would be natural if you allow for the effect of XPath abbreviations.
I think that using "difference" would confuse an awful lot of people who
would assume, without reading the spec, that it meant magnitude difference
(e.g. subtract, or date difference).
Well thats a problem of applying a mathematical construct outside of a
mathematical domain, hence why I suggested the difference as
alternative syntax to keep both sides happy (if indeed they are the
same thing).
I worked at an investment bank before going to university and never
did A levels so I walked into my first Calculus class thinking that a
derivative was a financial instrument and a slope was something you
skied on. It is not feasible or desirable to go through life clinging
on to
these non-mathematical interpretations.
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