On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 8:33 PM, harrismh777 <harrismh...@charter.net> wrote: > In this present case the straw-man was not "me," rather the straw-man was > the python language itself. You chose a code-snippet (one small puny dangle > that doesn't prove a thing) and used it to speak for the entire language! > As though one code-block is enough to demonstrate compatibility for the > entire language in all of its nuances and details. To prove something > positive with a test case requires that you provide *all* test cases, or > that you provide an algorithm that accounts for *all* test cases... you > cannot prove compatibility with a code-snippet.
You have just misrepresented Steven's argument, which is rather ironic considering that you're the one who brought up straw-men. Steven did not use one code snippet to demonstrate that Python 2 and Python 3 are fully compatible. The code snippet merely demonstrated that Python 2 and 3 are not "totally incompatible" as you had claimed. I realize you are now asserting that compatibility is a boolean condition, and that "totally incompatible" is a redundant phrase that you tossed out as a joke. I don't know whether you're sincere or backpedaling, but in any case this assertion is flatly ludicrous. Following your definition, *nothing* is compatible with anything else. If you disagree, then I invite you to list one example of two different things that are compatible. And finally, would you please just knock off the fallacy crap? If you assert something, and another person counters with a straw-man, and you respond by dismissing his argument as a straw-man, your response is valid. But if you assert something, and another person makes a counter-argument, to whom you invariably respond by crying "Straw-man!" or "False analogy!" (or in your case, "Analogy!"; you seem to view all analogies as false) regardless of what that person actually said -- even if that person does *sometimes* actually commit those fallacies -- then you yourself are employing an ad hominem. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
