4 ms·
I know it's a common saying, but I've never understood how exceptions can prove rules.
by it 14y ago
I know it's a common saying, but I've never understood how exceptions can prove rules.
- guelo 14y agoIt's just something stupid that people say when they've been caught over-generalizing.
- hardwear 14y agoIt is a very old saying from when "prove" meant what "test" means now. Exception is meant in the sense of exceptional, unusual. "The unusual event tests the heuristic."
- monjaro 14y agoIt's actually a really simple thing that most people misunderstand (such as the parent). It means that if you only provide an exception, it implies a rule. For example, if you say: Parking allowed 3pm-5pm that implies that parking is not allowed at other times.
- sp332 14y agoPointing out how flexible Haskell's type system is just proves how inflexible type systems generally are. It doesn't really demonstrate that most type systems are useful.