I agree that namespaces are good. I was trying to think of some examples from philosophy, where you might say “Heidegger’s notion of being” vs some other philosopher’s notion of being. But fanfic also provides a ready example.
Scope is the same thing as namespace, except it is implicit, silent, invisible, undeclared. It is simply understood that the context of a function definition (and some other such cases) introduces its own namespace, and namespace conflicts are resolved automatically via some set of rules.
Which is to say, it is a good analogy for our disagreement about how words work.
Of course, namespaces are less flexible than scoping.
… Well, not much, really. Mainly the’re just more notationally burdensome, requiring things to be declared which are normally inferred from context.
But I ask again whether anyone here thinks that it’s a good idea to make all of our conversations, on any topic as complex, and as cognitively demanding, as computer programming. Consider the price of the flexibility you wish for.
The big difference between conversation and computer programming is that humans interpret things flexibly and contextually, whereas machines obey only precise definitions. So, in my view, you are wanting to do away with an element of the thing which makes conversations less complex and cognitively demanding than programming.
I wouldn’t want to have conversations in the way you want to have them because it would make it harder to think.
I’m not arguing for messiness, fuzziness of definitions, lack of rigor. But I am arguing that rigor should be applied strategically, cleanly defining precisely those aspects which are most useful to the goals of the conversation. Anything else is wasted mental effort, which detracts from intellectual progress.
I agree that namespaces are good. I was trying to think of some examples from philosophy, where you might say “Heidegger’s notion of being” vs some other philosopher’s notion of being. But fanfic also provides a ready example.
Scope is the same thing as namespace, except it is implicit, silent, invisible, undeclared. It is simply understood that the context of a function definition (and some other such cases) introduces its own namespace, and namespace conflicts are resolved automatically via some set of rules.
Which is to say, it is a good analogy for our disagreement about how words work.
… Well, not much, really. Mainly the’re just more notationally burdensome, requiring things to be declared which are normally inferred from context.
The big difference between conversation and computer programming is that humans interpret things flexibly and contextually, whereas machines obey only precise definitions. So, in my view, you are wanting to do away with an element of the thing which makes conversations less complex and cognitively demanding than programming.
I wouldn’t want to have conversations in the way you want to have them because it would make it harder to think.
I’m not arguing for messiness, fuzziness of definitions, lack of rigor. But I am arguing that rigor should be applied strategically, cleanly defining precisely those aspects which are most useful to the goals of the conversation. Anything else is wasted mental effort, which detracts from intellectual progress.