[TAO] value() to obtain pointer functionality

[Mike Kerner]

The problem we have with arrays is that they don't let us really use
indirection, i.e. pointers/handles.  It's a lot easier to write generic
handlers for a screen full of controls with pointers/handles.  "DO" is ok,
but it's the same problem we've always had with "DO", namely it's slow.
 It's very, very flexible, but it's slow.

I can also understand the newbie saying "but I can actually read and
understand that code" (meaning, code that uses "do").  Indirection,
references, recursion, etc. definitely can all make code harder to read
and/or follow, and so it has to be documented well, and heavily.

I am pleased that half of my DO's can come out, thanks to being able to
evaluate expressions to indirectly obtain values.  Now, if I could go the
other way, too, it would be even better.


On Sun, Aug 3, 2014 at 10:26 PM, Richard Gaskin <ambassador at fourthworld.com>
wrote:

> Mike Kerner wrote:
>
>  And this won't be truly great until I can
>>
>> put "y" into x
>> put 1 into value(x)
>>
>> because I can use this to get values but not set them, so I'm still stuck
>> with
>>
>> do "put 1 into"&&x
>>
>
> I'm all for inventing radical new programming paradigms, and maybe Open
> Language may help with some of this, but what you have there is a common
> need addressed through a different pattern:
>
> In essence it's a name-value pair, and whenever you have a set of
> name-value pair in which the names can't be known in advance one of the
> most common solutions is an associative array, which LC handles well:
>
>   put 1 into tArray[x]
>
>
> --
>  Richard Gaskin
>  Fourth World Systems
>  Software Design and Development for Desktop, Mobile, and Web
>  ____________________________________________________________
>  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com        http://www.FourthWorld.com
>
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