On Tue, Jan 28, 2020 at 19:06 ToddAndMargo via perl6-users < perl6-us...@perl.org> wrote:
> On 2020-01-28 15:37, Trey Harris wrote: > > > > > > On Tue, Jan 28, 2020 at 18:09 ToddAndMargo via perl6-users > > <perl6-us...@perl.org <mailto:perl6-us...@perl.org>> wrote: > > > > Observer effect (physics) > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect_(physics) > > > > In physics, the observer effect is the theory that > > the mere observation of a phenomenon inevitably > > changes that phenomenon ... An especially unusual > > version of the observer effect occurs in quantum > > mechanics, as best demonstrated by the double-slit > > experiment > > > > Seems Quantum theory has come to Raku, only we call it "unboxing". > > > > > > As I wrote in your Raku/problem-solving issue (#154), your question is > > not well-formed. A native value has no metadata, so how can it have a > > type? Any experience at all with a language with pointer arithmetic > > should make this clear. > > > > And you issue doesn’t seem to be with unboxing—as far as I can tell, > > you’re unboxing (assigning to a native) just fine, it’s the autoboxing > > that’s giving you fits. > > > > If you can show a language that can do what you want—whether it’s a > > `typeof` equivalent or a binary data validity checker or a magic number > > heuristic or something else, then we may be able to help you, but right > > now you seem to be asking for something akin to wanting to know what > > color the bits in your uint32 are—it’s not a question with meaning. > > Trey, > > If I ask what something is, I want an accurate answer back. What does “accurate” mean for a native value? It’s a binary blob. It has no type in the memory, only in the runtime. If you successfully assigned it and haven’t done any OO operations on it, as far as the runtime’s concerned, it’s still the type it was when you assigned it. If you have done OO operations on it, then it’s been autoboxed and you can do `.^name` against it. I’ve only asked three times, but I’ll try once more: a problem statement would be helpful here. What are you trying to achieve other than poking the spot to see if it still hurts when you poke it? It may be possible to do what you want with either anonymous variables or with a class serving as a container for a native attribute (which can ensure that the attribute can’t be autoboxed). But just saying “I want to run this method that is undefined on this thing and has no well-formed answer for this thing apart from what I can see by inspecting the code” isn’t helpful in understanding what you want. “And I want it to give me an *accurate* answer” doesn’t help to understand what that is, either. >
