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Does that package exist because JavaScript lacks a modulus operator (I feel like I remember it having one), or because the operator does/doesn’t coerce things i

Does that package exist because JavaScript lacks a modulus operator (I feel like I remember it having one), or because the operator does/doesn’t coerce things into numbers the way you’d expect? Or is it honestly just laziness?

krapp 6y ago
>Does that package exist because JavaScript lacks a modulus operator (I feel like I remember it having one), or because the operator does/doesn’t coerce things into numbers the way you’d expect? The package is written in javascript and uses the modulus operator. It's just laziness and a cargo-cult mentality around package granularity that's gotten way out of hand. There's no rational basis for it.
- trollied 6y ago
  Yet I get downvoted for calling it out. Go figure!
  - cortesoft 6y ago
    The point is that you don’t need “is_odd” in the standard library, you have modulus. You were arguing that JavaScript needs a better standard library to keep people from importing is_odd
    - trollied 6y ago
      Yeah, I tried to make an invalid point. My bad. The main point still stands though, I'm sure there's hundreds of other examples of pointless libraries that are easily covered by something that is trivial.
smcl 6y ago
You were right - Javascript lacks a modulo operator. Javascript does have a `%` operator, and in many languages that performs the modulo operation ... but in JS it actually calculates the remainder. This is confusing because in some situations remainder and modulo look similar, but they're not. So if we compare JS and Python (where `%` means "modulo") ... $ python3 Python 3.7.3 (default, Jul 25 2020, 13:03:44) [GCC 8.3.0] on linux Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> 10 % 3 1 >>> 10 % -3 -2 >>> $ node > 10 % 3 1 > 10 % -3 1 In the case we're talking about - is_odd - I don't think it matters, but there is a difference and it could cause some surprises if you're not prepared. edit: I called this operation "remainder" ... but you don't exactly say "10 remainder 3" for this operation. I don't know what to call it, "divide-by-and-return-absolute-of-whats-left" is not very catchy
- TimWolla 6y ago
  According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation#In_programming_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation#In_programmin...: - JavaScript is consistent with Java, PHP. - Older C may behave as either Python or JavaScript. - Modern C behaves like JavaScript. So basically Python is the outlier here.
  - 3pt14159 6y ago
    Outlier is a bit of a strong word. Ruby and many others[0] implement it the same way. Personally, I think the way Ruby does it is the most intuitive. The % operator is a modulo, and there is a separate method for remainder. Even though I prefer this way, I'm dismayed that there are multiple ways of doing it. Like so many things created by humanity, we just can't ever seem to take one definition and stick to it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation#In_programming_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation#In_programmin...

krapp 6y ago

>Does that package exist because JavaScript lacks a modulus operator (I feel like I remember it having one), or because the operator does/doesn’t coerce things into numbers the way you’d expect? The package is written in javascript and uses the modulus operator. It's just laziness and a cargo-cult mentality around package granularity that's gotten way out of hand. There's no rational basis for it.

trollied 6y ago
Yet I get downvoted for calling it out. Go figure!
- cortesoft 6y ago
  The point is that you don’t need “is_odd” in the standard library, you have modulus. You were arguing that JavaScript needs a better standard library to keep people from importing is_odd
  - trollied 6y ago
    Yeah, I tried to make an invalid point. My bad. The main point still stands though, I'm sure there's hundreds of other examples of pointless libraries that are easily covered by something that is trivial.

smcl 6y ago

You were right - Javascript lacks a modulo operator. Javascript does have a `%` operator, and in many languages that performs the modulo operation ... but in JS it actually calculates the remainder. This is confusing because in some situations remainder and modulo look similar, but they're not. So if we compare JS and Python (where `%` means "modulo") ... $ python3 Python 3.7.3 (default, Jul 25 2020, 13:03:44) [GCC 8.3.0] on linux Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> 10 % 3 1 >>> 10 % -3 -2 >>> $ node > 10 % 3 1 > 10 % -3 1 In the case we're talking about - is_odd - I don't think it matters, but there is a difference and it could cause some surprises if you're not prepared. edit: I called this operation "remainder" ... but you don't exactly say "10 remainder 3" for this operation. I don't know what to call it, "divide-by-and-return-absolute-of-whats-left" is not very catchy

TimWolla 6y ago
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation#In_programming_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation#In_programmin...: - JavaScript is consistent with Java, PHP. - Older C may behave as either Python or JavaScript. - Modern C behaves like JavaScript. So basically Python is the outlier here.
- 3pt14159 6y ago
  Outlier is a bit of a strong word. Ruby and many others[0] implement it the same way. Personally, I think the way Ruby does it is the most intuitive. The % operator is a modulo, and there is a separate method for remainder. Even though I prefer this way, I'm dismayed that there are multiple ways of doing it. Like so many things created by humanity, we just can't ever seem to take one definition and stick to it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation#In_programming_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation#In_programmin...