On 17 Apr 1997 16:04:25 GMT, clin@cs.umd.edu (Charles Lin) wrote:
> Notice this is why I said "if one HAD to" choose a single data type,
>a string would probably be it. I didn't argue that it was a good idea.
>In other words, given that you had to choose one type that a language
>had to be in, what would you choose? The problem with lists is that
>a list is really a compound data structure. For example, in a Lisp
>list (a (b c)), what is "a", "b", and "c"? Lists are built from
>basic elements. Yes, yes, you can build up some sort of counting by
>using the empty list and list of empty lists, and so on, but again,
>ease of programming counts.
It's that misconception again! TCL is lists of characters! Scheme has
a load of types which are on equal footings, in that containers and
atoms are interchangeable!
> My preference is to have multiple types.
What, like TCL does, you mean? :-)
>--
>Charles Lin
>clin@cs.umd.edu
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Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 22:09:30 GMT
From: papresco@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca (Paul Prescod)
Message-Id: <E8utJv.B3q@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>
Organization: University of Waterloo Computer Science Club
References: <s6ypvvukubq.fsf@aalh02.alcatel.com.au>,
<E8sJ14.wG@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>, <5j7o20$s1u$1@news.du.etx.ericsson.se>
Subject: Re: Reply to Ousterhout's reply (was Re: Ousterhout and Tcl ...)
In article <5j7o20$s1u$1@news.du.etx.ericsson.se>,
Robert Virding <rv@erix.ericsson.se> wrote:
>In article <E8sJ14.wG@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>,
>papresco@csclub.uwaterloo.ca (Paul Prescod) writes:
>>In article <s6ypvvukubq.fsf@aalh02.alcatel.com.au>,
>>Chris Bitmead uid(x22068) <Chris.Bitmead@alcatel.com.au> wrote:
>>>none the wiser (apart from awful performance of course). Why do you
>>>want to fit everything in a string?? It buys you NOTHING.
>>
>>It buys you not having to write string->number. I don't think that this is a
>>big win, but I could see how it would be useful to people who are not used
>>to thinking about data types.
>
>Actually there is no win at all. If you are going to DO anything with
>the number you need string->number. The question in this case is
>rather WHEN you do the conversion.
No, the system does the conversion implicitly. The user never types
string->number.
>If it is not the language itself then it must be some property of the
>system itself which is useful and not found in other language
>systems. What I don't know.
Tk, which was tied to Tcl in the early days.
Paul Prescod
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