[TAO] value() to obtain pointer functionality

[Jerry Jensen]

I think actually its more equivalent to evaluating an expression. It still has to parse the parameter, otherwise value(2+3) wouldn't work. That has nothing to do with pointers. A DO statement has to handle verbs too, so its more work. 
.Jerry

On Jul 28, 2014, at 4:57 PM, Mike Kerner <MikeKerner at roadrunner.com> wrote:

> Craig,
> This is equivalent to dereferencing a pointer, which is what I was
> referring to.  After reading the explanation in the dictionary, this is not
> what I expected.  When I said value(b), I expected LC to just dumbly return
> "a", but was sort-of hoping that I'd get "1", so part of me is giddy, and
> part of me is annoyed at all the code I've written that would have been
> much shorter and simpler with it, and faster.
> You know, things like repeats that walk x1..x24
> 
> Richard,
> The thing that surprises me is that evaluating "b" to get "a", and then
> saying "hmm, I wonder what that means", looking it up, and returning IT'S
> value is faster than the fastest DO I could generate.