alt Hacker NewsUnder the Known Limitations section
deleted and dead are integers. They are stored as 0/1 rather than booleans.
Under the Known Limitations section
deleted and dead are integers. They are stored as 0/1 rather than booleans.
By "to do this" do you mean to not use booleans? It's because the value does not represent a binary true or false but rather a means by which the item is deleted or dead. So not only would it not make sense semantically, it would break if a third means were introduced.