Jonathan Gardner wrote:
On Feb 2, 7:23 am, "bartc" <ba...@freeuk.com> wrote:
Jonathan Gardner wrote:
One of the bad things with languages like perl and Ruby that call
without parentheses is that getting a function ref is not obvious.
You need even more syntax to do so. In perl:
foo(); # Call 'foo' with no args.
...
If you get rid of the syntax specific to Perl, then having to
explicitly obtain a function reference, or to dereference the
result, is not such a big deal:
foo # Call 'foo' with no args.
bar = foo # Call 'foo; with no args, assign to 'bar'
bar = &foo # Don't call 'foo', but assign a pointer to it to 'bar'
bar^ # Call whatever 'bar' is pointing at with no args
(Here I use ^ instead of -> to dereference.) Compared with Python,
it saves 3 lots of (), but needs & and ^ added. Still a net saving.
On one shoulder, a demon taunts the programmer: "Ohmygosh, you can
save three keystrokes if you introduce an entirely new syntax with odd
squiggles that make no pronounceable sound in the English language!
Perhaps one day, you can program APL in Python!"
...
Thankfully, Guido has banished that demon from the realm of Python a
long time ago.
You mean & (bitwise AND in Python) and ^ (bitwise XOR in Python)?
:-)
--
Bartc
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