Main Alice And Bob Discussion

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VVK

Topic

12:15:35 AM Dec 17th 2015
edited by VVK

What's the reason this isn't supposed to be used in trope descriptions and what is to be done instead? Use A and B?

SeptimusHeap

02:17:41 AM Dec 17th 2015

Or better yet, not use specific names at all. The reason we don't like the format is because it gets repetitive and not all tropes can be explained well in this way.

Larkmarn

06:12:43 AM Dec 17th 2015

Using specific examples for the description is problematic because if people only do that, the trope is poorly defined. It becomes impossible to tell if the trope only applies to that specific situation or if it's a bit more flexible, for example.

VVK

02:15:04 PM Dec 28th 2015

I see. I used this in "Yes"/"No" Answer Interpretation, and I didn't make up a specific example and I think it worked fine to explain it since I specifically needed characters A and B. I can't say it's not repetitive, but I can't really think of a better option for that one, since "A and B" just sounds clumsy.

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CrystalGlacia

Topic

10:38:07 AM Mar 8th 2013

Is this page supposed to do indexing?

Telcontar

11:04:46 AM Mar 8th 2013

No real harm in it; I think it's Just for Fun.

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NimmerStill

Topic

06:01:55 PM May 16th 2012

"When the interaction between two hypothetical characters is needed to explain or describe some system, they are nearly always called Alice and Bob."

Nearly always where? Everywhere? Just in This Very Wiki?

Telcontar

01:50:01 AM May 17th 2012

Nearly always everywhere, but I can't give a source.

NimmerStill

09:56:29 AM May 17th 2012

Well I ask because this is the first I've heard of it, and I'm in a field where we have to give examples like this all the time. It's not the case in linguistics, philosophy, logic, or as far as I can tell, computer science.

VVK

12:13:59 AM Dec 17th 2015

I've seen it in philosophy. Not everywhere but somewhere.

Larkmarn

06:14:26 AM Dec 17th 2015

Necro-ing, but for future reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob