Re: Do you suggest me using IDE when I'm learning JAVA

From:

Lew <noone@lewscanon.com>

Newsgroups:

comp.lang.java.programmer

Date:

Sun, 02 May 2010 18:24:18 -0400

Message-ID:

<hrku2i$g71$1@news.albasani.net>

Arved Sandstrom wrote:

Fortunately "may not" is one of the modal negatives that has a fairly
unambiguous meaning, as in, "not allowed". That doesn't mean that a
lot
of people don't use it incorrectly, though.

Lew wrote:

"Correctly" according to you. I've heard "may not" to mean "might not"
my entire life.

Eric Sosman wrote:

"Mom, can I use the car?"

"You mean `may'."

"Sorry. Mom, may I use the car?"

"No, you may not."

Lew wrote:

Your point may not have been clear here. What are you trying to say?

Eric Sosman wrote:

That your mother may not have taught you good grammar?

My mother is a retired English teacher. I assure you she taught me good
grammar. You know, bringing up someone's mother is considered rude in some
cultures.

"May (not)" does indeed have the meaning Arved describes,
some of the time. "You may have another piece of pie" and "You
may not use the car" and "He may not make any move that puts or
leaves his King in check" are expressions of permission (or lack

No one disagrees with that.

thereof), not of possibility or probabality. "You may not have
heard the news" and "I may have known her, long ago" and "He may
have been color-blind" are expressions of possibility, not of
permissions. And sometimes it is not clear which sense of "may"
may or may not be intended.

That is true, and not at all different from what I've been saying. It is
Arved's point about correctness that is not correct.

--
Lew