The idea is that a gift card is "good enough"; some useful information can be derived from it, whereas an indirection is never "good enough"; if you're told your present is in another castle, you're no better for the wear: it's as if you've accomplished nothing at all. I think I might be able to capture that in a small pastiche.
That was the original idea for the comic. But it seemed like it would be really complicated, so I simplified it (but failed to update the text :-). But the simplification really fails to capture why you might expect x to be evaluated, even when it's not. It's all a bit dodgy. I'll sleep on it and see if I come up with anything better. It's certainly not the case that the trace output "takes time."
>It's certainly not the case that the trace output "takes time."
That's what I figured, just wanted to throw out the possibility :) I'll happily keep reading, you've got me interested, at the very least. Want me to send you critiques if I come up with them? On blog / email?
That was the original idea for the comic. But it seemed like it would be really complicated, so I simplified it (but failed to update the text :-). But the simplification really fails to capture why you might expect x to be evaluated, even when it's not. It's all a bit dodgy. I'll sleep on it and see if I come up with anything better. It's certainly not the case that the trace output "takes time."