On Tue, Oct 06, 2009 at 06:39:18PM -0400, Doug Franklin scripsit: > Graydon wrote: >> Yeah, but I got taught data structures by a graph theorist, and we did >> graphs, acyclic graphs, directed graphs, and then acyclic directed >> graphs, so my brain thinks the acyclic is a special case of directed, >> rather than the other way around. > > That taxonomy is not acyclic. :-)
Behold the weakness of adjectives! :) > [Directed and acyclic are orthogonal characteristics when applied to > graphs. A graph may be either, neither, or both.] Sure. And strictly, strictly, "directed" and "acyclic" both modify "graph", rather than each other, so the phrases are completely equivalent, only you'd have to be a grammar robot to read it that way, which is why a native speaker doesn't think "directed acyclic graph" and "acyclic directed graph" sound like necessarily the same thing. Which is how I got into this particular excavation in the first place, and I should stop digging. :) -- Graydon -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
