Re: pgsql: Avoid using ambiguous word "positive" in error message.

From: Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net>
To: Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com>, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
Cc: Fujii Masao <fujii(at)postgresql(dot)org>, PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Re: pgsql: Avoid using ambiguous word "positive" in error message.
Date: 2021-08-31 13:16:07
Message-ID: b3a5a0f7-d956-0c54-2c0d-4bbcec7064ef@dunslane.net
Views: Raw Message | Whole Thread | Download mbox | Resend email
Thread:
Lists: pgsql-committers pgsql-hackers


On 8/30/21 10:19 AM, Robert Haas wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 30, 2021 at 10:16 AM Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
>> Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
>>> The new style seems good, but I don't really agree that "positive" and
>>> "non-negative" are ambiguous. "positive" means >0 and "non-negative"
>>> means >= 0, because 0 is neither positive nor negative.
>> Well, the point is precisely that not everyone makes that distinction.
>> I agree that everyone will read "non-negative" as ">= 0"; but there's
>> a fair percentage of the population that uses "positive" the same way.
> The mathematician in me recoils.
>

Yep, me too. IIRC Ada comes with a predefined subtype named "Positive"
which has the range 1..Integer'Max. It also has "Natural" which includes
zero.

cheers

andrew

--
Andrew Dunstan
EDB: https://www.enterprisedb.com

In response to

Browse pgsql-committers by date

  From Date Subject
Next Message Tom Lane 2021-08-31 16:02:47 pgsql: Fix missed lock acquisition while inlining new-style SQL functio
Previous Message Amit Kapila 2021-08-31 09:50:04 Re: Separate out FileSet from SharedFileSet (was Re: pgsql: pgstat: Bring up pgstat in BaseInit() to fix uninitialized use o)

Browse pgsql-hackers by date

  From Date Subject
Next Message Alvaro Herrera 2021-08-31 13:56:30 Re: prevent immature WAL streaming
Previous Message Ronan Dunklau 2021-08-31 13:08:47 Re: pg_receivewal starting position