Re: silly behavior of factor(6)

[David Holland <dholland-tech%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 12:30:29AM +0200, Kristaps Dzonsons wrote:
>> I'm currently inclined to change it to error on 0, print a leading -1
>> for negatives, and leave the rest alone...
>
> -1 isn't a prime factor.  "Unless it is."  I'll let this speak for  
> itself as to the can of worms opened by introducing x<1 as input without  
> having factor.6 contain a lesson in number fields.  Please, please keep  
> input in N.

And 1 has no prime factors either. That's great, but the whole point
of this thread is to strike a balance between what's strictly
meaningful and what makes the most ad hoc sense.

-- 
David A. Holland
dholland%netbsd.org@localhost