Re: use-cases promote thinking of limited application

[Koichi Murase]

2021年8月23日(月) 10:54 L A Walsh <bash@tlinx.org>:
> On 2021/08/19 02:15, Ilkka Virta wrote:
> > $ declare -A A=([foo bar]="123 456" [adsf]="456 789")
> > $ printf "<%s>\n" "${A[@]@K}"
> > <adsf "456 789" "foo bar" "123 456" >
> >
> > Interesting. I wonder, what's the intended use-case for this?
> >
> ---
> Does it matter?: Organizing data.

I'd guess Ilkka has asked the use case for this particular output
format, i.e., the quoted fields inside a single word.  If the purpose
is organizing the data, I would naturally expect the result in the
following more useful format in separate words without quoting:

<adsf>
<456 789>
<foo bar>
<123 456>

> Anyway, in my experience, asking 'why' or for 'use-cases' seems more often
> a way to rule out or determine relative importance, but is almost always
> an inaccurate way to do so.

I think it is still valid to ask the known/existing use cases when
someone doesn't know the existing use cases, which doesn't rule out
the other use cases.  In particular, I think Ilkka has asked about the
intended use case, i.e., the original motivation of adding this
feature in Bash 5.1.  It doesn't rule out other usages.