Re: math.e and misc.e
Robert Craig wrote:
<snip>
> Note that there is already a bit pattern that means "NO VALUE".
> That's how the back-end detects uninitialized variables at run-time.
> However I'm reluctant to make it a visible part of the language.
> It might constrain future optimizations, features etc.
Out of curiosity:
Maybe you could give an example of such optimizations or features,
which might be constrained by making that bit pattern a visible part
of the language?
> In most cases the programmer can make up his own special code,
> meaning "error", or "not meaningfully initialized yet",
> or perhaps have several different codes for various kinds of errors.
In many (if not most) cases this is more ugly and complicated than using
something like 'nil' or 'nan'. That's the reason why other languages
have this, and why several Eu programmers have asked for it for years.
E.g. in mathematics, it's quite "natural" that sometimes some values are
undefined, so people want their programming language to privide a "natural"
way to express this.
Regards,
Juergen
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