Goldilocks and the Two Boolean Bears

Boolean logic is based on two values: TRUE and FALSE. Boolean values are used within programs to perform logic such as: determining if an IF statement executes or controlling when a loop terminates.

Once upon a time, a girl named Goldilocks came across a small cottage. She had been wandering around the woods all day and was eager to rest. She furtively peeped into the windows and listened at the door. There was no sign of life. Convinced that the cottage was empty, Goldilocks climbed in through an open window.

The smell of fresh porridge wafted through house. Goldilocks followed her nose as if in a trance. Presently, she came to the kitchen and saw two large bowls of porridge sitting on a low wooden table.

"Nobody will mind if I have just a little," thought Goldilocks. Her stomach grumbled in agreement. The smell of freshly ground cinnamon pushed away the last of her doubts.

Goldilocks skipped over to the table and tried the first bowl of porridge. It was ice cold. "This porridge is completely cold," she thought to herself. "It is not hot at all."

She tried the next bowl of porridge.

"Argh!" she screamed. The molten porridge seared the inside of her mouth. She spit the porridge across the room, eager to distance herself from the fiery pain. She then dove for the bowl of cold porridge, filled her mouth with the icy sludge, and waited for the pain to subside.

"Who makes porridge that hot?" she moaned to no one in particular.

Traumatized, she looked for someplace to rest. In the living room, she found a single small chair.

"Only one chair?" Goldilocks wondered aloud. Then, noticing the well worn patch of carpet adjacent to the chair, she concluded: "I guess one person sits and the other does not sit. That seems awkward."

Goldilocks climbed into the chair, which promptly collapsed onto the floor. After quick examination of the wreckage, Goldilocks mumbled to herself in confusion "Who makes a chair out of balsa wood? No wonder the other person did not sit down. You would have to be tiny for that chair to support you."

Continuing her search for a place to rest, Goldilocks ventured upstairs. The large bedroom held two beds. The first bed looked incredibly soft. Cotton balls filled the four foot thick mattress. In stark contrast, the second bed consisted of a flat plank of iron supported by four cinder blocks.

"What is going on?" asked Goldilocks. "One bed is clearly comfortable. The other is not. Who makes a bed out of an iron plank?"

Golidlocks debated crawling into comfortable bed when the truth dawned on her. Everything in this house was Boolean. The porridge was hot or NOT hot. One person sat in a chair and the other did NOT sit. One bed was comfortable and the other was NOT comfortable. Whoever lived in this house did not believe in a middle ground. That did not bode well for visitors.

Goldilocks dove out an open window. She sprinted down the path and away from the house before the owners returned. She had no interest in learning whether they were welcoming or not.

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For more about Boolean logic, see Ann's visit to the city of Bool.

For another take on familiar tale, see Binary Searching for Cinderella.