Matthias Blume wrote:
> In Danvy's solution, the format argument is not a string.
That's what I said, yes.
>>You can't read the printf format from a configuration file
>>(for example) to support separate languages.
> You don't need to do that if you want to support separate languages.
That's kind of irrelevant to the discussion. We're talking about
collections of dynamically-typed objects, not the best mechanisms for
supporting I18N.
> Moreover, reading the format string from external input is a good way
> of opening your program to security attacks, since ill-formed data on
> external media are then able to crash you program.
Still irrelevant to the point.
> I am sure one could adapt Danvy's solution to support such a thing.
I'm not. It's consuming arguments as it goes, from what I understood of
the paper. It's translating, essentially, into a series of function
calls in argument order.
> Obviously, a Danvy-style solution (see, e.g., the one in SML/NJ's
> library) is not necessarily structured that way. I don't see the
> problem with typing, though.
You asked for an example of a heterogenous list that would be awkward in
a statically strongly-typed language. The arguments to printf() count,
methinks. What would the second argument to apply be if the first
argument is printf (since I'm reading this in the LISP group)?
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
My Bath Fu is strong, as I have
studied under the Showerin' Monks.
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