[erlang-questions] Human readable errors in lists module

[Ulf Wiger]

2009/2/10 Per Gustafsson <pergu@REDACTED>:
> Off-topic answer below;
>>
>> * Often quoted as "The best is the enemy of the good", and attributed to
>> Voltaire, but according to http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire, the
>> above
>> stems from "Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien", or "Il meglio è l'inimico del
>> bene" - for whatever reason, Voltaire apparently felt obliged to express
>> it
>> in Italian too.
>>
>>
>
> I'm pretty sure "le mieux" is the superlative form of bien so the "The best
> is the enemy of the good" is probably the best translation. So it seems that
> you escape that dangerous position of being correct in matters where
> established men are wrong and you can instead relax in my favorite place:
> being wrong in matters where established men are right.

Indeed. (:
My French is non-existent, and my Italian is only marginally better. I was
pretty sure that "meglio" meant "better", but I hadn't yet come to learn
(or had forgotten) that putting "il" in front of it makes it a relative
superlative, i.e. "meglio" = "better", "il meglio" = "best".

At least I stay true to the scientific tradition of citing your sources well
enough that others can point out the error in your reasoning.

I stand corrected on the trivia, but maintain that keeping poor
exception behaviour in the name of consistency is a questionable
strategy.

/U