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Archiver > TMG > 2004-07 > 1089175679


From: Darrell Martin <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Spouses even though no marriage shown?
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2004 23:47:59 -0500
References: <30273817.1089062030877.JavaMail.root@wamui09.slb.atl.earthlink.net><019901c462f5$8bc52840$6401a8c0@charliexv><6.1.0.6.2.20040705223242.0441c4c0@popd.ix.netcom.com><6.0.2.0.0.20040706053652.025bee40@pop.sprynet.com><6.1.0.6.2.20040706074923.04437430@popd.ix.netcom.com>
In-Reply-To: <6.1.0.6.2.20040706074923.04437430@popd.ix.netcom.com>


At 09:58 AM 7/6/04, Dennis Lee Bieber wrote:
>On or about 07/06/04 04:34 a carrier pigeon from Darrell Martin delivered:
>
>>What is a "flag"? Not just in TMG, in any program?
>
> At the most strict meaning, in programming -- a bivalued variable (boolean, T/F, Y/N) typically used to select between two branches of logic. At a looser definition, a variable with a limited, pre-defined set of values (which permits a multiway branch). I don't know if the use of the word "flag" derives from clerical usage -- imagine a filing cabinet with colored "post-it" strips (flags) sticking up from the files: black:dead, green:living; blue:male, pink:female (stereotype, I know). You can quickly select files without really looking at the data.

Hi, Dennis:

And if you don't know the pattern the filing clerk uses, and all the quirks of his or her system, then you may pull a folder with a green "flag" thinking it is for a living employee, and get the lawn care contract. And it won't do to complain that in the next drawer down green *does* mean "living" (even if it does), and that the filing clerk is an idiot (which may be demonstrably true). The only question that matters is, are you pulling the wrong folder?

Darrell M.


Darrell A. Martin
a native Vermonter currently in exile in Illinois
http://www.darrell-martin.net/genealogy


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