I remember reading somewhere (of course I can’t remember where) that to call something a “list” it must contain more than two items:
[ol]
[li]Is this true?[/li][li]If so, what would this be called?[/li][/ol]
Paging Opal!
If you buy the dictionary definitions and accept that a series could be fewer than three things, then yes. Otherwise, no.
I think anyone who says a two-item list isn’t a list needs to get a real job.
This sounds like something philosophers would have debated in the Middle Ages.
While I agree that a list can have any number of members, I don’t think that having a different opinion means you can’t be professinally employed.
Hell, I got NOTHIN’ on my To-Do list.
For those that say a list must include at least 3 items -
If I need bread and milk from the store, what do I write myself? A shopping memo?
In LISP, lists can have 0 items.
You might be thinking of lists in the context of punctuation. Two items don’t receive any punctuation (not even a comma). Three items requires some punctuation to be easily readable.
What if you just need milk? Can a list have only one item?
then you might have to have a list for butterfat, casein,calcium phosphate and be smart enough to buy them in emulsion form.
“What if you just need milk? Can a list have only one item?”
If I just need one item, I don’t need a list so the question is moot until I run out of butter.
What if you have a bad memory? You got to the store and forgot why you went. If you had made a list of the milk then you could get the milk instead of returning home and then end up dying from dehydration.
I think the question is if you have notepaper with milk written on it while you shop, does that constitue a “list.” Whatever a dictionary says, it’s IMHO territory.
I’d forget to take the list.
And can a medley contain only two songs? One? None?
tie a string on your finger
with the list attached
I’ve crossed enough items off a list that its number of items is now negative.
Seems more like a question of definition, in which case you should either consult a dictionary or decide for yourself. FWIW my opinion is yes that a list of two items is still a list.
In mathematics the concept of a list is formalized as a sequence and a sequence can have two or one members or even (usually) zero members (such a sequence would be called the empty sequence).