Re: [Scheme-reports] "It is an error" is misleading

[Vassil Nikolov <vnikolov@x>]

On Fri, 16 Nov 2012 08:49:03 -0500, Noah Lavine <noah.b.lavine@x> said:

> Hello,
> On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 7:50 AM, Vassil Nikolov <vnikolov@x> wrote:

>> Helmut Eller <eller.helmut@x> wrote:
>> 
>> > ...
>> > However the meaning of "it is an error" in R7RS is the same as "it is
>> > unspecified".
>> 
>> "Undefined", not "unspecified".
>> 
>> This use of "it is an error" is well established.

> That is true, but it is nevertheless confusing that there are two concepts
> in the standard called "error", and they are very different - the error
> objects/exception system and unspecified behavior. It took me a little
> while to figure out what was going on.

  Undefined, not unspecified.  In any case, "it is an error" is an
  idiom (which has been around for three decades, possibly more).  For
  the record, I find this wording quite fine, and having once read (I
  don't recall exactly where) an explanation of its meaning, I have
  never had any difficulty construing it in the sense of "the
  consequences are undefined".

  ---Vassil.


-- 
Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов | <vnikolov@x>

"Be careful how you fix what you don't understand."  (Brooks 2010, 185)

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