<story><title>If-then-else had to be invented</title><url>https://github.com/e-n-f/if-then-else/blob/master/if-then-else.md</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dahart</author><text>&amp;gt; That&amp;#x27;s just English, right? Except that it isn&amp;#x27;t. I can&amp;#x27;t use &amp;quot;else&amp;quot; as a conjunction in normal speech, only in computer programs.&lt;p&gt;Sure you can!&lt;p&gt;Shakespeare used &amp;#x27;else&amp;#x27; in the same sense as &amp;#x27;otherwise&amp;#x27;:
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.shakespeareswords.com&amp;#x2F;Public&amp;#x2F;GlossaryHeadword.aspx?headwordId=9622&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.shakespeareswords.com&amp;#x2F;Public&amp;#x2F;GlossaryHeadword.as...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;else used as a conjunction&amp;quot;
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;wordtype.org&amp;#x2F;of&amp;#x2F;else&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;wordtype.org&amp;#x2F;of&amp;#x2F;else&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Or else!&amp;quot; was common speech before computers, and a common vague cartoon&amp;#x2F;cowboy&amp;#x2F;sign threat.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>reidacdc</author><text>There is some anecdotal support for the article&amp;#x27;s position in a recent [1] article about the origin of the C programming language -- apparently the C predecessor language CPL used &amp;quot;OR&amp;quot; as a keyword where most modern languages now use &amp;quot;else&amp;quot;, on precisely these grammatical grounds, as understood by Christopher Strachey.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;arstechnica.com&amp;#x2F;features&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;a-damn-stupid-thing-to-do-the-origins-of-c&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;arstechnica.com&amp;#x2F;features&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;a-damn-stupid-thing...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>If-then-else had to be invented</title><url>https://github.com/e-n-f/if-then-else/blob/master/if-then-else.md</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dahart</author><text>&amp;gt; That&amp;#x27;s just English, right? Except that it isn&amp;#x27;t. I can&amp;#x27;t use &amp;quot;else&amp;quot; as a conjunction in normal speech, only in computer programs.&lt;p&gt;Sure you can!&lt;p&gt;Shakespeare used &amp;#x27;else&amp;#x27; in the same sense as &amp;#x27;otherwise&amp;#x27;:
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.shakespeareswords.com&amp;#x2F;Public&amp;#x2F;GlossaryHeadword.aspx?headwordId=9622&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.shakespeareswords.com&amp;#x2F;Public&amp;#x2F;GlossaryHeadword.as...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;else used as a conjunction&amp;quot;
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;wordtype.org&amp;#x2F;of&amp;#x2F;else&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;wordtype.org&amp;#x2F;of&amp;#x2F;else&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Or else!&amp;quot; was common speech before computers, and a common vague cartoon&amp;#x2F;cowboy&amp;#x2F;sign threat.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>SilasX</author><text>Even if it weren’t, that just means we would have called the construct “if-then-otherwise” instead (perhaps abbreviated as othw).</text></comment>