ternary

adj : having three units or components or elements; "a ternary

operation"; "a treble row of red beads"; "overcrowding

made triple sessions necessary"; "triple time has three

beats per measure"; "triplex windows" [syn: {treble}, {triple},

{triplex}]

n : the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one

[syn: {three}, {3}, {III}, {trio}, {threesome}, {tierce},

{leash}, {troika}, {triad}, {trine}, {trinity}, {ternion},

{triplet}, {tercet}, {terzetto}, {trey}, {deuce-ace}]

ternary

A description of an {operator} taking three

arguments. The only common example is {C}'s ?: operator which

is used in the form "CONDITION ? EXP1 : EXP2" and returns EXP1

if CONDITION is true else EXP2. {Haskell} has a similar "if

CONDITION then EXP1 else EXP2" operator.

See also {unary}, {binary}.

(1998-07-29)