Re: print, Re: where is everybody, Re: etc....
On Wed, 01 Nov 2000, Ben Fosberg wrote:
> I'd vote for this suggestion; some of us are literate, but not
> particularly numerate.
> ...
> Come on, Robert - give us mortals a break.
>
I initially signed up for this list because I saw Euphoria as something
I had been looking for; a simple, clean, and easy to use programing
language. Granted, it had some flaws, but it seemed that those problems
were being addressed, and that there was even the possibility of
we users influencing the direction the language would take.
Lately, I have stayed on the list because it has become a source
of some mild amusement, as Rob's idea of a "typeless" language
repeatedly bangs its head against the hard wall of reality. I'm afraid
others have found it more painful than amusing, and have gone on
to other things.
While it may be true that "to a computer, everything is a number",
in the real world, everything is *not* a number, e.g.:
"My boss is Mr. Smith, and my girlfriend is 19"
How many of you think her name is "19"?
Since computers are stupid, we must either tell the computer
*in advance* what sort of data we intend to store, and how it
should be used, (age : integer; name : string;) so the computer
can manipulate and display the data properly, OR we can foist
all such work off onto the programmer, who must choose the correct
method to apply *each time* that particular bit of data pops up.
Euphoria has (mostly) chosen the second method. So, depending
upon what type of data we *think* is currently stored in a variable,
we must choose one of several possible functions which "may"
manipulate the data the way we want - but only if our assumption
about what is currently stored there is valid.
Should we write "if name = "Mr. Smith", or "if equal(name, "Mr. Smith"),
or is it "if equal(age,19)...."
Bang! (sound of programmer's heads hitting aforesaid wall)
How about "print(age)" , "print(name)"? "puts(name)"
Bang! again.
So, in effect, instead of declaring a type once at the beginning of a
program, and having a short, clean list of functions to manipulate them,
Euphoria requires us, in effect, to declare anew the type of a variable
with each and every use of that variable throuout our program, by
choosing from a longer and less obvious list of functions.
Is it any wonder that newcomers have a rough time getting started?
(sigh...)
At least some of these problems could have been avoided if
Rob hadn't chosen to "throw away" the double-quote.
Even a stupid computer can learn to display something beginning
with a " as "Mr. Smith", instead of {
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