From: Kenneth Whistler (kenw@sybase.com)
Date: Mon Nov 10 2003 - 22:20:13 EST
Mark Shoulson wrote:
> > We can't write meta-rules for everything, Curtis. And it isn't a good
> > use of my time, anyway, to try. "Informed whim" if you will.
>
> Whim sounds about right. And this isn't a criticism. I honestly doubt
> I could satisfactorily defend the choice of unifying French "A" and
> English "A" but not Russian "A" against a determined Devil's Advocate.
ISO 8859-5, Windows Code Page 1251, Code Page 855.
Game, set, match.
> We wind up like Justice Potter Stewart and pornography: maybe we can't
> define it, but we know it when we see it. And there will be edge cases,
> yes, where not all of us agree on seeing it. Whim is all we have to go
> on; run with it.
Hardly. What we have is not whim, but a large collection of
good principles, which sometimes are at odds with each other,
and which are often difficult to apply systematically in
particular edge cases. Sorting that out is not a matter of
whim, in my opinion.
--Ken
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