On Tuesday 07 June 2005 23:41, Luke Palmer wrote:
>  On 6/7/05, Larry Wall <larry@[...].org> wrote:
>  > Okay, I've made up my mind.  The "err" option is not tenable because
>  > it can cloak real exceptions, and having multiple versions of reduce is
>  > simply multiplying entities without adding much power.  So let's allow
>  > an optional "identvalue" trait on operators.  If it's there, reduce
>  > can use it.  If it's not, reduce returns failure on 0 args.  Built-in
>  > addition will have an identity value of 0, while multiplication will
>  > have an identity value of 1.  String concatenation will have "".
>  > We can go as far as having -Inf on [<] and +Inf on [>]
> 
>  < and > still don't make sense as reduce operators.  Observe the table:
> 
>      # of args   |   Return (type)
>          0       |   -Inf
>          1       |   Num  (the argument)
>          2       |   bool
>          ...     |   bool
How about using initvalue twice for empty array, ie. always pad to at least 
two values?

So
 $bool = [<] @empty_array; # is false (-Inf < -Inf)
 $bool = [<=] @empty_array; # is true (-Inf <= -Inf)

Which would make some sort of sense - in an empty array there's no right 
element that's bigger than it's left neighbour ...

And if the case [<] @empty_array should return true it's easy to use ?? ::.


Just my ¤0.02.


Regards,

Phil