Terminology: Corner Cases

[i_was_like_you]

I move to retire the term corner case as, within the last couple weeks, it has been used far too often. It's like the term hipster no one quite seems to agree on what it means, but everyone's sure they don't want to be one. Or, in this case, everyone seems to be sure that situations A through Z are all corner cases, thereby rendering none of them as such.

http://www.cracked.com/video_18560_why-its-time-to-stop-calling-everything-hipster.html

[I do realize I am guilty for perpetuating this term, as I did use it as a title in a previous forum thread, and, of course, this one.]

[HalcyonSeraph]

I dunno, I think the situation where people want to stop using the term corner case is a...hmm, if only we had a good term to use for this sort of thing...

[i_was_like_you]

The term sprung up a couple weeks ago, and proliferated like swamp lice through the bayou.

[011121]

In computer science we tend to use the term edge case. If you think of inputs as occupying a multidimensional space then edge cases are well edges that tend to give unexpected results. An easy example is if you have a program that divides 'a' by 'b,' both of which are integers then the edge case is 0. It fits the criteria for the input (it is an integer) but it has unexpected results if it's 'b.'

in terms of Malifaux then with the way gunfighter works the edge case is when the gunfighter is in engaged by a model with a 3" melee range. It's a wierd result of a particular circumstance interacting with the rule.

[Ryu]

Corner case is not a hipster term, perhaps new to Malifaux but it's been in use for decades. You can't vote to remove terms from language (unless your France, of course they don't really succeed in removing popular terms such as week-end anyway, they just try to).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corner_case

[i_was_like_you]

I didn't say it was a new term. I said it was being overused, incorrectly, by way too many people, in the same manner as the term hipster.

If we start applying it to every instance that doesn't follow the base rules, then we're talking about practically every model. Just because only one or two models have an ability, it still doesn't count. It's the interactions between two odd abilities that would make it a corner case.

[Ryu]

We can argue over the semantic usage of corner case, but I don't think it should be retired. You may view the use of corner case in reference to a particular skill or ability in a vacuum as tenuous, but it doesn't change the fact that it's still in the semantic realm of defensibility; though technically you are right in your prescriptivist definition of corner case as it generally deals with the complex interactions of multiple components.

As for your first sentence - practically every model in Malifaux has a true corner case or two anyway. That's what gives it character in my eyes