Henning Thielemann wrote:
On Thu, 8 May 2008, Madoc wrote:
minValue = 0::Int
maxValue = 1000::Int
normalize a | a < minValue = minValue
| a > maxValue = maxValue
| otherwise = a
normalize' = min maxValue . max minValue
There is a curiosity here. The functions normalize and normalize' are
extensionally equal only because minValue <= maxValue, but intensionally
different. The intensional equivalent is to reverse order of composition:
normalize'' = max minValue . min maxValue
which remains equal to to normalize whatever the values of minValue and
maxValue.
That the order of composition (or of guarded expressions) matters
conditionally base on its parameters is reason enough for the original
poster to decide what the "right answer" should be if maxValue <
minValue. These corner cases are often where future bugs lie dormant. My
choice would be:
normalize''' = max trueMin . min trueMax
where trueMin = min minValue maxValue
trueMax = max minValue maxValue
Now the function makes no assumptions about external values. This is no
less efficient than before, since trueMin and trueMax are CAFs evaluated
only once.
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