On: What real life bad habits has programming given yo...

[andreyf]

Constantly wondering if people mean `or' or `xor' (I mean xor)

[paulgb → andreyf]

"Lunch specials include salad or fries"

"Great, I'll have both!"

[lunchbox → andreyf]

Related: when people ask me if I'd like "A or B" I wonder if people mean "A || B", to which I'd reply with true/false, or "max(A, B)", to which I'd reply with A (if I have higher preference for A) or B (if I have higher preference for B).

Here are two unambiguous examples:

"Are you a US citizen or permanent resident? Yes [ ] No [ ]"

versus:

"Would you like coffee or tea?"

In some settings, when they ask "A or B", it's hard to know which of the following set are valid answers: {{}, {A}, {B}, {A,B}}

[nihilocrat → andreyf]

I find it's most often people say "or" when they mean xor, and "and/or" when they mean or.

So perhaps we should start saying either "or" or "ior" (inexclusive or).

[tlrobinson → nihilocrat]

The "and/or" thing actually sort of makes sense if you take "or" to mean "xor", since (A XOR B) OR (A AND B) equals (A OR B)

[smanek → tlrobinson]

So, slash is really 'or'?

Oh, my head.

[tlrobinson → smanek]

    english   logic
    -------   -----
    and       AND
    or        XOR
    /         OR

Actually, since (A XOR B) and (A AND B) are mutually exclusive, (A XOR B) XOR (A AND B) also equals (A OR B), so "/" could be "XOR" too.