What are new numbers equal to?

[Michael O'Brien]

For reasons perhaps better left unexplained, I recently evaluated the expression
"Float new = 0.0". Hmm. Should it be true? False? What value is in there,
anyway? "nil" isn't a number. Is it still "nil"?

BS II, of course, stepped off the curb. Ran itself out of space contemplating
the philosophical wonderfulness of it all. Dolphin CV4 claimed it was "true",
which is probably worse. The same question, of course, applies to
"Integer new = 0", which also sends BS II out to lunch.
Note that class SmallInteger evades the problem by overriding the message "new"
and screaming at the user via a notifier.

Now, no one in his right mind ever creates numbers this way, but the philosophical
question remains, and it sure seems to me as if Smalltalkers are not, in general,
shy of philosophical questions.

Comments?
--
Mike O'Brien
The Rand Corporation

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