But what does it give you? I may not like PHP's definition of "5uper" + 3 as 8, but at least I can see an advantage to it, a use for it. What would you do with that zero quotient, any examples? And I mean examples where you haven't checked the value of the divisor (otherwise what's the point). I appreciate spooneybarger's input as a core developer of Pony, because he lets us know this was a difficult decision, and frames the definition squarely in the context of the language.
On the other hand, the author of the article seems to push for a general, mathematical definition of 1/0 as 0. First of all, good luck with that, as there is no standards-issuing body in mathematics. And whether the author likes it or manages to overturn a very long tradition, division is defined when we grow up as multiplying by the multiplicative inverse, with some occasional notes like "Division by zero is undefined for the real numbers and most other contexts [1] or "In general, division by zero is not defined [2], pointing to settings where clearly you won't find consensus.
I refer to when we grow up because we should not forget the intuitive definition Wikipedia gives first and, I guess understandably, MathWorld gives last: "separating an object into two or more parts". As we know, this restriction of two parts can (more and then less) intuitively be loosened to one, negative numbers, rational numbers, real numbers, etc., but only arbitrarily for zero. But then again, even if we unanimously agreed on one value, what does it give you?
On the other hand, the author of the article seems to push for a general, mathematical definition of 1/0 as 0. First of all, good luck with that, as there is no standards-issuing body in mathematics. And whether the author likes it or manages to overturn a very long tradition, division is defined when we grow up as multiplying by the multiplicative inverse, with some occasional notes like "Division by zero is undefined for the real numbers and most other contexts [1] or "In general, division by zero is not defined [2], pointing to settings where clearly you won't find consensus.
I refer to when we grow up because we should not forget the intuitive definition Wikipedia gives first and, I guess understandably, MathWorld gives last: "separating an object into two or more parts". As we know, this restriction of two parts can (more and then less) intuitively be loosened to one, negative numbers, rational numbers, real numbers, etc., but only arbitrarily for zero. But then again, even if we unanimously agreed on one value, what does it give you?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_(mathematics)
[2] http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Division.html