"Tor Rustad" <tor_rustad@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> In science, making statements that cannot be falsified, has *no value*.
> So, how can your "no usage pitfalls with strncpy", be falsified by
> measurement exactly?
>
A hypothesis which is empirical in nature is stronger if it survives an
attempt at falsification. That's not the same thing as saying that every
statement in science must be falsifiable, or it has no value. A theorem, as
opposed to theory, cannot be falsified by experiment, for example, but
theorems are very useful to scientists.

--
Free games and programming goodies.
http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~bgy1mm

Malcolm McLean said:

> "Tor Rustad" <tor_rustad@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> In science, making statements that cannot be falsified, has *no value*.
>> So, how can your "no usage pitfalls with strncpy", be falsified by
>> measurement exactly?
>>
> A hypothesis which is empirical in nature is stronger if it survives an
> attempt at falsification. That's not the same thing as saying that every
> statement in science must be falsifiable, or it has no value. A theorem,
> as opposed to theory, cannot be falsified by experiment, for example, but
> theorems are very useful to scientists.

Theorems certainly /can/ be falsified (at which point they instantly stop
being theorems, because theorems are supposed to be true statements). For
example, Pythagoras's Theorem (which is a statement about Euclidean
geometry) is a theorem that can easily be falsified (if it is not true).
All you have to do is find a right triangle lying flat on the Euclidean
plane, such that the square of its hypotenuse is not equal to the sum of
the squares of the other two sides.

--
Richard Heathfield <http://www.cpax.org.uk>
Email: -http://www. +rjh@
Google users: <http://www.cpax.org.uk/prg/writings/googly.php>
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999

Malcolm McLean wrote:
> "Tor Rustad" <tor_rustad@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> In science, making statements that cannot be falsified, has *no
>> value*. So, how can your "no usage pitfalls with strncpy", be
>> falsified by measurement exactly?
>>
> A hypothesis which is empirical in nature is stronger if it survives an
> attempt at falsification. That's not the same thing as saying that every
> statement in science must be falsifiable, or it has no value. A theorem,
> as opposed to theory, cannot be falsified by experiment, for example,
> but theorems are very useful to scientists.

I didn't say, the only way to falsify statements, was by experiment. In
Mathematics, we usually falsify the incorrect conclusions or theorems,
by logic. However, I do admit that definitions and axioms are useful,
but can't be falsified.

We have lots of data now on strncpy usage, so why Richard didn't clarify
the conditions I could falsify his "no usage pitfalls with strncpy",
shows he was just word twisting.

--
Tor <torust [at] online [dot] no>

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