I think you’re correct, but I find “misgeneralization” an unhelpful word to use for “behaved in a way that made the programmer unhappy”. It suggests too strong an idea of some natural correct generalization. This seems needlessly likely to lead to muddled thinking (and miscommunication).
I guess I’d prefer “malgeneralization”: it’s not incorrect, but rather just an outcome I didn’t like.
Hmm, maybe, but I think there’s a normal situation in which a programmer wants and expects her software to do X, and then she runs the code and it does Y, and she turns to her friend and says “my software did the wrong thing”, or “my software behaved incorrectly”, etc. When she says “wrong” / “incorrect”, she means it with respect to the (implicit or explicit) specification / plan / idea-in-her-head.
I think that, in a similar way, using the word “misgeneralization” is arguably OK here. (I guess my “unhappy” wording above was poorly-chosen.)
Sure, I don’t think it’s entirely wrong to have started using the word this way (something akin to “misbehave” rather than “misfire”). However, when I take a step back and ask “Is using it this way net positive in promoting clear understanding and communication?”, I conclude that it’s unhelpful.
Yeah, me neither—mainly it just clarified the point, and is the first alternative I’ve thought of that seems not-too-bad. It still bothers me that it could be taken as short for “malicious/malign/malevolent generalization”.
I think you’re correct, but I find “misgeneralization” an unhelpful word to use for “behaved in a way that made the programmer unhappy”. It suggests too strong an idea of some natural correct generalization. This seems needlessly likely to lead to muddled thinking (and miscommunication).
I guess I’d prefer “malgeneralization”: it’s not incorrect, but rather just an outcome I didn’t like.
Hmm, maybe, but I think there’s a normal situation in which a programmer wants and expects her software to do X, and then she runs the code and it does Y, and she turns to her friend and says “my software did the wrong thing”, or “my software behaved incorrectly”, etc. When she says “wrong” / “incorrect”, she means it with respect to the (implicit or explicit) specification / plan / idea-in-her-head.
I think that, in a similar way, using the word “misgeneralization” is arguably OK here. (I guess my “unhappy” wording above was poorly-chosen.)
Sure, I don’t think it’s entirely wrong to have started using the word this way (something akin to “misbehave” rather than “misfire”).
However, when I take a step back and ask “Is using it this way net positive in promoting clear understanding and communication?”, I conclude that it’s unhelpful.
Maybe! I’m open-minded to alternatives. I’m not immediately sold on “malgeneralization” in particular being an improvement on net, but I dunno. 🤔
Yeah, me neither—mainly it just clarified the point, and is the first alternative I’ve thought of that seems not-too-bad. It still bothers me that it could be taken as short for “malicious/malign/malevolent generalization”.