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Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:
> At 12:52 PM -0700 5/7/02, Jonathan Robie wrote:
> >Without the cast, max() would sort according to the string value,
> >not the decimal value.
>
> I would propose more simply that max() and similar functions always
> treat their arguments as numbers. I personally have never heard of a
> max() function that operates on strings anyway.
It does in Haskell:
Prelude> max 1 2
2
Prelude> max "abc" "def"
"def"
Prelude> :type max
max :: Ord a => a -> a -> a
In C++, 'max' works on any type 'T' for which
bool T::operator<(const T&) or bool ::operator<(const T&,const T&)
is defined (which includes strings).
That said, I strongly agree that for XQuery it makes more
sense to have type-specific functions. Like you said:
> In brief, I suggest if you
> pass something to a function that expects a number, it's converted to
> a number. If you pass something to a function that expects a date,
> it's converted to a date. No muss, no fuss.
IMO, that is an eminently more sensible approach for XQuery.
With class-based polymorphism a la Haskell, a polymorphic 'max'
makes sense. With ad-hoc overloading a la C++, it's still workable.
But XQuery has a dynamic type system at its base with an optional
static type system added on, much like Common Lisp. In languages
like that, overloaded functions are _very_ tricky to specify well,
tedious to implement, and unpredictable in use. It's workable
if the type hierarchy is well thought-out, like the Lisp numeric
tower is. Looking at the mixed bag of XSD primitive types,
I have serious doubts.
--Joe English
jenglish@flightlab.com
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