On Thu, Oct 04, 2001 at 06:35:51PM +1000, Jeremy Howard wrote: > > I've been playing with Ruby, which has a similar feature. @foo is an > > object instance variable. Inside a class definition, foo() is a > > object method call on the current object. Outside it's a class method > > call on the current class. Works out very nicely under the fingers. > > > I really hope that the unary . is required (as Larry suggested)--I don't > want foo() to be a method call on the current object unless the '.' prefix > is there.
It has to be that way in Perl, I'd think, since we have real functions (as opposed to method calls that look like functions) and you have to distinguish between the two somehow. <snip> > My favorite introduction to the joys of > array-oriented languages is here: > http://www.jsoftware.com/primer/main.htm AUUUGHH! MONADS! /me claws out his eyes. Sorry, I think I read one too many "Monads Will Save The Universe, Revive Functional Programming, Make You Younger And Smell Better and Scrape the Burnt Part Off Your Toast" papers. > To describe it as just eliminating 'the need for a few maps and foreaches' > is like describing Perl's OO as just eliminating the need to create a little > hash of references to packages. Although it is somewhat accurate in theory, > it misses the point that the syntax enables a programming paradigm that is > more rich and appropriate for certain problem domains Having made that same argument myself for other things, I'll try to keep an open mind about it. > > Backtracking: > > > > Ok, I don't get it at all. Damian, clarification? > > Backtracking is at the heart of Logic Programming (or Declarative > Programming, if you like). This is one of the 3 main programming paradigms > (along with procedural and functional). The most popular Declarative > language is Prolog. It is great for writing programs that are largely about > resource allocation and constraints. There's some links to start you off > here: > > http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?backtracking Sounds like a chess computer. -- Michael G. Schwern <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.pobox.com/~schwern/ Perl6 Quality Assurance <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Kwalitee Is Job One GOD made us funky!
