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From: Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: transpiling to low level C
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2025 21:38:38 -0800
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Ben Bacarisse <ben@bsb.me.uk> writes:

> Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> writes:
>
>> A statement of fact is a statement concerning an objective question,
>> such as "Is every even number greater than 4 the sum of two prime
>> numbers?".  A statement of fact can be right or wrong or true or
>> false, even if it isn't known at the present time which of those is
>> the case.  The statement "Four colors suffice to color any planar
>> map such that adjacent regions do not have the same color" is a
>> statement of fact, both now and 60 years ago before the statement
>> had been proven.  Both P==NP and P!=NP are statements of fact, even
>> though one of them must certainly be false;  the key property is
>> that they are objective statements, subject to falsification.  If I
>> say "The Earth is flat", that is a statement of fact, even though
>> the statement is false.
>
> I think you go too far.  The word "fact" is not neutral as far as its
> truth is concerned, and writing "a statement of fact" does not
> significantly change that.  Most dictionaries define a fact as something
> that is true (or at least supported by currently available evidence).
> One online essay[1] concludes that
>
>   "A statement of fact is one that has objective content and is
>   well-supported by the available evidence."
>
> [1] https://philosophersmag.com/the-fact-opinion-distinction/

I will concede that the phrase "statement of fact" can be used in
the sense you describe.

I believe it is also true that "statement of fact" is used in the
sense I describe, and that sense appears among the alternatives in
various well-regarded dictionaries.

In any case, my point was not to have a debate about the meaning of
a phrase, but to clarify the intended meaning of my earlier remarks.
I was making a statement about an objective question, one subject to
independent verification or falsification.  I was not offering a
comment that was merely expressing a personal point of view.