OpenEuphoria

RE: Wish list

• Posted by rforno at tutopia.com Jul 29, 2002
• 389 views

Outlook Express in some way transformed my //s notation into file://s.


----- Original Message -----
From: <rforno at tutopia.com>
Subject: Wish list


>
> EUPHORIA WISH LIST from R. M. Forno
>
> Perhaps not for version 2.4, but for 3.0 or 4.5...
>
> 1) Comments C type: /* ... */ to ease commenting out code blocks.
>
> 2) Enhancements to the trace facility:
>  A) Variables should not be shown automatically but only at an user
>  request. When exiting a routine, its private variables should
>  momentarily disappear, and reappear if entering the routine again.
>  B) Allow showing expressions, at least of the form x[i][k],
>  z[2..n], etc. Better if all valid expressions were allowed, including
>  function calls.
>  c) On a more advanced mood, allow entering the editor while in trace
>  mode, defining and executing new routines, modifying old ones,
>  modifying and creating variables, etc.
>
> 3) Allow executing string variables, that can contain code like "x = y *
p".
>
> 4) Allow defining functions from a string, for example:
>  "function foo(integer u) return power(u, u) end function"
>
> 5) A function that returns the amount of available real storage at the
> moment.
>  It will ease the task of determining the size of buffers to avoid
>  using virtual storage.
>
> 6) A facility to save the status and variables of a program in the middle
of
>  execution, also available from the trace screen. This will ease
>  debugging; you could advance execution to a certain point, save,
>  continue, and in case of failure, restart at the saved point.
>
> 7) Add the following *internal* data types: byte, word (2 bytes), and
> perhaps
>  (why not?) bit and nibble (half byte), all in order to save storage.
>  Programs should switch from one to other according to needs.
>  For example, assume a sequence s  s = {}. Then, s &= 1. This can
>  be a byte (or bit) type. If then s &= 65, it remains byte. If then
>  s &= 3456, it should switch to word (the entire sequence). If then
>  s[1] = 12345678, it should switch to the current Euphoria integer type.
>  If then s[2] = 89.876, maybe the current scheme could be maintained
>  (AFAIK, only this element becomes floating point, and the rest remain
>  integer), or else the entire sequence switches to floating.
>  Of course, some other mechanisms could be preferred if they are
>  more efficient or easier to code. Now, this scheme exists to some
>  point, reduced to integer versus floating point. Perhaps my proposal
>  is exceedingly complex. Rob surely has something to say about it.
>
> 8) Rob, you know I like APL. There is a feature of APL that I think would
be
>  good to implement. +/s would compute the sum of the elements of s,
>  in some way to be defined if s is not a simple sequence.
>  The same for */s, file://s, /%s (where % is a new notation for
> "remainder"),
>  etc.
>
> 10) Add officially to Euphoria the Win32lib, or any replacement for it.
This
>  will surely increase the market share for Euphoria.
>
> 9) Excuse me, Kat, but I don't think goto would be useful. I recently
tried
>  to translate to Euphoria an algorithm I wrote in BASIC years ago,
>  and this was a nightmare, not for the lack of goto (since you
>  can simulate it with a status variable), but only to understand how
>  the algorithm worked. Of course, I am guilty of not having commented
>  it well, but anyway...
>
> Thanks for your patience, Rob. I appreciate and support your efforts to
keep
>  Euphoria simple and efficient. I don't think my proposals would in
>  any way be contrary to this goal.
>
>
>
>