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World: r3wp

[!REBOL3-OLD1]

Gregg
14-Dec-2006
[1717]
I'll have to add Danish if I ever do it again. :-) I couldn't have 
done it without a lot of help from the native speakers, particularly 
Richard. I wasn't even *close* on my Czech, working from translated 
text. At least he got a good laugh out of it. :-) Fortunately, nobody 
was there who could criticize my Indonesian.
[unknown: 9]
14-Dec-2006
[1718]
And 
arms" are universal language ;-)"

So is MONEY : )
Volker
14-Dec-2006
[1719]
Not without arms. You need to point out -  no,  at - what you want!
Rebolek
15-Dec-2006
[1720]
Actually most people have arms, that's not so true with money :)
sqlab
15-Dec-2006
[1721]
depends of the meaning of "arm",
arm like a limb or like a weapon.
Rebolek
15-Dec-2006
[1722]
yes, weapons are universal language too ;-)
Volker
15-Dec-2006
[1723]
but you need arms to hold them!
Robert
15-Dec-2006
[1724]
10/11 May? I'll be there.
BrianH
15-Dec-2006
[1725]
And the vocabulary of weapons is a little limited.
Maxim
15-Dec-2006
[1726]
ready, aim, fire
   
that pretty much covers the dialect
Henrik
15-Dec-2006
[1727]
and reload?
sqlab
18-Dec-2006
[1728]
and lock and unlock.)
Henrik
20-Dec-2006
[1729]
Ladislav, it wasn't until you wrote those two small examples, that 
I finally understood what APPLY is about. :-)
CharlesS
20-Dec-2006
[1730]
what examples
Henrik
20-Dec-2006
[1731]
charles, see the R3 blog on the APPLY function at the bottom of comments
CharlesS
20-Dec-2006
[1732x2]
What advantages does HASH have over regular blocks, I can access 
a regular block like a dictionary anyway
right ?
Henrik
20-Dec-2006
[1734]
it's very fast
Maxim
20-Dec-2006
[1735x2]
speed.... MUCH faster on lookup
IIRC slower on insert
Henrik
20-Dec-2006
[1737x3]
I think the normal procedure is to manipulate your block like you 
normally would and then convert it to hash! when you want to do lookups
I posted something on the APPLY thing on empty argument blocks, which 
I think should produce an error. This made me think of whether there 
is a very easy way to tell how many arguments a function requires?
ah, first :+ == [value1 value ]
JaimeVargas
20-Dec-2006
[1740x2]
variable arg dispatching breaks a major premise of rebol dispatch 
mechanism.
Henrick. In scheme/lisp. 

apply :+ [] ;== 0

whichs is a very sensible result.
Henrik
20-Dec-2006
[1742]
well, is it then not necessary to set up different rules for what 
it should output for different functions?
JaimeVargas
20-Dec-2006
[1743x2]
I am not sure what you mean. Another example is: 

apply :* [] ;== 1
Scheme gives out this results because 0 and 1 are *neutral* numbers 
regarding addition and multiplaction. That is the result is unaltered 
by those values respectevely.
Henrik
20-Dec-2006
[1745]
these are arithmetic operations. what about other kinds?
JaimeVargas
20-Dec-2006
[1746]
Rebol functions can't accept a variable number of arguments with 
the exception of refinements. So the issue is becomes important. 
APPLY is kind of incompatible to the principle that * every  function 
has a fixed number of arguments*.
Izkata
20-Dec-2006
[1747]
They can if you take advantage of the unset! datatype...  But it's 
not pretty and more confusing than it's worth
Henrik
20-Dec-2006
[1748]
I just think it would be more straight forward with natives for performing 
arithmetics on blocks. It's more predictable.
Maxim
20-Dec-2006
[1749]
predictable?
Henrik
20-Dec-2006
[1750]
apply :* [] ;== 1 isn't predictable within REBOL terms, I think
JaimeVargas
20-Dec-2006
[1751x2]
APPLY just means run this function with the block content as args. 
So:


APPLY :+ [1 2 3 4]  is equivalent to DO [+ 1 2 3 4]  ;; using scheme 
semantics
If we stick with this definition an no varargs for functions then 
APPLY :+ [1 2 3 4] is impossible it actually should throw an error 
because the native '+ requires two arguments.
Maxim
20-Dec-2006
[1753]
yes Jaime that is how I see it in REBOL too... so in rebol the last 
two args would be ignored if we use the current understanding
JaimeVargas
20-Dec-2006
[1754]
In which case APPLY with math ops is kind of lame compared to scheme.
Maxim
20-Dec-2006
[1755x2]
how does scheme understand to continue grabbing values?  because 
its not hitting an action?
or because it servers args within an argument () ?
JaimeVargas
20-Dec-2006
[1757x3]
I APPLY was simply implemented as the DO translation; you will get 
tons of side effects. Because,


APPLY :+ [1 2 3 4] implented as DO [+ 1 2 3 4] ;== 4 (NOT 10 wich 
is the expected result).
Because in Scheme you can have function with variable number of arguments 
thanks to the parenthetical notation. (APPLY + '(1 2 3 4)) ;== (+ 
1 2 3 4)  and '+ is coded to handle variable arguments.
In scheme the parenthesis tell the function where the expression 
ends. In rebol the number of arguments tell the function where the 
expression ends. This is a very fundamental difference and the tradoff 
made when dropping parenthesis or any kind of expression delimiter.
Maxim
20-Dec-2006
[1760x2]
exactly.
but we can just implement our functions with a single block argument 
if we wish... then its a moot point... no?
JaimeVargas
20-Dec-2006
[1762x2]
No. Because now you need to be passing blocks everyware. And doing 
composing for symbol to value replacement everyware.
For example:  1 + 2  becomes + [1 2], and then how you handle + [a 
b]. You need a prebinde code. Basically that reitroduces parens.
Maxim
20-Dec-2006
[1764x3]
yes obviously, actually calling reduce all the time.
I've often wondered if I missed variable args, and it seems I don't 
miss them that mutch.  they seem less needed in rebol.
but refinements are hard to reapply.