On asking the wrong question and getting the wrong right answer

[kpreid]

These may be three different things:

• The answer to the question you asked
• The solution to the problem implied by the question you asked
• The solution to the problem you actually have

I was reminded of this yesterday when, noticing that my code for Cubes was using an arbitrary constant for the near clip plane, I asked how to calculate it in a principled way.

Comments

[seawasp]

Well, I'd HOPE wouldn't do it in an UNprincipled way!

[kpreid.livejournal.com]

I'm speaking mathematically. Unprincipled would be picking a number and checking if it looks OK, rather than using some principle (rule, formula) to choose it.

(The number was 0.1. (https://github.com/kpreid/cubes/commit/4fe6081c52353bab760e08ba09dcfaee27db0f4b#L0L460))