Again with the start using.

[Jeanne A. E. DeVoto]

At 1:44 PM -0800 3/1/2004, Richard Gaskin wrote:
>By what rules could one intuit whether a given token is a function 
>or a property?
>
>Jeanne, what's Kamins' argument for this one?

You mean Winkler's? I'm not sure myself. I do note though that global 
properties in HyperTalk can be expressed as properties of HyperCard - 
for example, "if the suspended of HyperCard is true..." Written this 
way, there's no ambiguity - all properties are "of" something - and 
it could be that leaving off the "of HyperCard" was originally a 
shortcut.

Differentiating between global properties and no-parameter functions 
is difficult for me too, for what it's worth. (It's the main reason 
that for "HT 2.2: The Book", I reorganized the language reference to 
put the terms in alphabetical order, instead of grouped by type of 
term - with the first edition, I was always having to look under both 
Functions and Properties to find things.)

But I rarely use the () form for functions that don't take a 
parameter, so in practice the confusion isn't normally a problem for 
me personally when scripting. Just when looking things up. ;-)

>And what is the rule that determines when "the" is necessary?  Is it 
>required for custom props only, and optional with all others?

I think so. (But it's strongly recommended to always use "the" to 
reference properties; not using "the" is one of those things that 
might not always be supported, so....)
-- 
jeanne a. e. devoto ~ jaed at jaedworks.com
http://www.jaedworks.com