External links from field values: is this state of the art?

#21

That’s just a cognitive-semantics thing.

“nth” to me is “give me this single one at this position”. So when I happen to use nth, it is because that’s what I’m thinking.

“first” to me is “give me the first x items”. So in that filter, I was not thinking in terms of “give me the first however many items.”

When I see the “first” operator, I immediately get in the mindset “oh, we’re getting the first X items”, and I quickly get a picture in my head that goes in that direction.

If the next thing I see is “1”, my immediate reaction is “what the heck”?

When I see the “nth” operator, I immediately get in the mindset “oh, I’m getting just one of the items in the list”, and I quickly get a picture in my head that goes in that direction.

I always say I have the reflexes of a sloth, but the sponge is always going at the speed of light, developing a highly intertwingled “picture”, and the second I run into something that isn’t matching the picture, then the entire picture makes no sense anymore (it totally falls apart), and I find myself having to start all over.

#22

Are you quoting the movie Toys?

  • Patrick Zevo : I can’t even eat. The food keeps touching. I like military plates, I’m a military man, I want a military meal. I want my string beans to be quarantined! I like a little fortress around my mashed potatoes so the meatloaf doesn’t invade my mashed potatoes and cause mixing in my plate! I HATE IT when food touches! I’m a military man, you understand that? And don’t let your food touch either, please?

Ah, to me I usually don’t even have a parameterized first. I use it as in languages with head and tail. head or first simply mean the first item in the list. tail or rest means the remainder of the list. (And I’m perfectly happy with car and cdr if they mean anything to you.) A parameterized first reads quite well, but it’s not my default setting.

I would not have asked if you used nth[1], but nth[] simply feels obscure to me. In any case, thanks for sharing.

#23

Yeah, it is kind of strange. I always register “nth” as meaning position 1 unless specified otherwise.

I’d love to be a study subject for some university psychology class.

If I had a dime for every time I step back and wonder: “why do I think this way” or “why does this way feel better to me”?

Not getting any dimes, but I am my own free source of never-ending entertainment.

#24

And really, what more can one ask for in life?