From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Thien-Thi Nguyen Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: About "set bits" Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:46:21 +0200 Message-ID: <87vc7t4fqa.fsf@zigzag.favinet> References: <20130410214627.6ca217f53415c0c6d1837edd@gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="=-=-="; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature" X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1365669851 17268 80.91.229.3 (11 Apr 2013 08:44:11 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 08:44:11 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Apr 11 10:44:13 2013 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1UQD77-0007kG-Hm for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:44:13 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:45575 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UQD77-000394-5N for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:44:13 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:40075) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UQD6t-00038c-AG for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:44:00 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UQD6r-0001Bb-O3 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:43:59 -0400 Original-Received: from smtp205.alice.it ([82.57.200.101]:51799) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UQD6r-0001BM-DE for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:43:57 -0400 Original-Received: from zigzag.favinet (79.24.36.116) by smtp205.alice.it (8.6.060.15) id 511D107408A0C21E for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:43:55 +0200 Original-Received: from ttn by zigzag.favinet with local (Exim 4.72) (envelope-from ) id 1UQD9L-0002Lw-Mt for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:46:31 +0200 In-Reply-To: (Barry Margolin's message of "Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:37:19 -0400") User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.2 (gnu/linux) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-Received-From: 82.57.200.101 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:90079 Archived-At: --=-=-= Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable () Barry Margolin () Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:37:19 -0400 phrases as computer or Emacs jargon, when they just have the meaning the words imply. Assuming that one can parse "set bit" as ADJ N, there is still room for confusion. Being around computers for a long time, i interpret "set" as "having value 1", but recognize anyway that such is not universal. For example, in the phrase "ready, set, go", the state "set" gives the impression of suspense, promise, potential. The poet in me imagines how zero embodies that, mapping these states to -1, 0, and 1, respectively. "But ttn, we're talking about Emacs Lisp and specifically binary data!" Yes. No one is born programmer or poet, yet both can hack (in) Emacs. What is confusion but a stretching of the mind? What is Emacs but confusion, parenthesized and shared? =2D-=20 Thien-Thi Nguyen GPG key: 4C807502 --=-=-= Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAlFmeGAACgkQZwMiJEyAdQKreACeLimLHzTCHo8H1REyqLgBjJTM LDEAoNSrGoXBs+B4tYtnJKM9CDS1dI22 =/uPV -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-=-=--