Re:If-then-else had to be invented
by a1369209993 on Sunday December 13, 2020 @02:49PM
(#25409519)
The first one is not exclusive-or, though: if you wanted to eat pizza and pasta, you would not answer "no" to "Do you want to eat pizza or pasta?", you would answer "both". Rather, "or" is serving as a inclusive-or with (perhaps) the incidental implication that picking more than one doesn't make sense in the first place.
Do you want to eat pizza and garlic bread? - inclusive
Do you want to eat pizza or garlic bread? - exclusive
In natural language "and" works like a inclusive or. If there is pizza and garlic bread I can choose to eat one or both. Or is always exclusive in this sentence.
Re:If-then-else had to be invented
by tsimionescu on Monday December 14, 2020 @06:21AM
(#25415779)
With minor modifications, it can become inclusive or:
Do you want to eat some pizza or some garlic bread? - probably inclusive or
Also, I would interpret the first question as "addition" (pizza with garlic bread, on the model of mac and cheese), not as an inclusive or.
Re:If-then-else had to be invented
by bryanrasmussen on Sunday December 13, 2020 @04:43PM
(#25410602)
>inclusive-or case
I used to drive my friend crazy when he would ask if I wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a ham and cheese sandwich and I would answer yes.
You have to be very careful in reasoning about natural language based solely on the written record, since spoken language regularly includes features, such as the suprasegmentals (stress and intonation) in the above examples, that aren't recorded in the orthography.