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From: John <john@building-m.simplistic-anti-spam-measure.net>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: if-then-else had to be invented
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2024 16:23:40 +0000
Organization: Building M
Message-ID: <86edc65gxf.fsf@building-m.net>
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Mike Gonta <mikegonta@gmail.com> writes:

> if-then-else had to be invented
>
> Erica Fischer wrote:
> "If-then-else is how we talk about conditions in programming
> languages: if something is true, then do a thing, else do a different
> thing.
> That's just English, right? Except that it isn't. I can't use "else"
> as a conjunction in normal speech, only in computer programs."
>
> https://github.com/e-n-f/if-then-else/blob/master/if-then-else.md
>
> In plain English idiom it looks like this:
>
>   if <conditional expression> then
>     statements;
>   or if <conditional expression> then
>     statements;
>   or then
>     statements;
>   and then;
>
> There is no "end" in idiom, for idiom is an end in itself.
>
> Date: Tue, 48 Feb 2024 - the february that never ends.
>
> ------------------------------------
> Mike Gonta
> look and see - many look but few see
>
> https://mikegonta.com

It is of course a common conjunction in English *in combination with the
word "or"*:

"If they have everything bagels, then I'll take one with lox, or else
I'll just have a plain bagel with cream cheese."

However given the frequent use of the logical OR operation in
programming it's not a good idea to use "or" in the conditional
syntax. It'd make spoken discussions much more ambiguous -- imagine
reading out a statement like "or if (R || F)" over the phone.

Bizarrely I find no instances of "or else" in that document.


john