valueDiff for arrays?

[Mark Waddingham]

On 2018-08-06 00:07, Brian Milby via use-livecode wrote:
> So this syntax:
> filter filterSource by [keeping | discarding] [[the] {lines | items | 
> keys
> | elements}] {matching [wildcard | regex] pattern filterPattern | where
> filterExpression} [into targetContainer]
> 
> Would allow a shortened version:
> filter X by matching pattern "regex" into Z
> Which would expand to:
> filter X by keeping the lines matching regex pattern "regex" into Z

TOP:

Yes - I realized earlier on that the shortened versions do no harm, and 
in all honesty I don't think the negated forms do either.

At the end of the day they all map through a well-defined (admittedly, 
hypothetical) mechanical process to a set of unambiguous preferred forms 
- so there is no problem with meaning.

Indeed, a lot of how we code is down to personal taste. I run a team of 
programmers, and so we have to have rules internally which everyone 
follows - just like if you try and run a team where everyone speaks an 
entirely different natural language, you are going to have significant 
problems in communication; teams of programmers communicate in code a 
lot, so its important that everyone largely 'speaks' the same language 
(well 'dialect' is probably a more accurate term here).

So I'll certainly be suggesting that should the new variant form appear 
that a review criteria of LCS code will be (internally) negated forms 
are banned - just swap keeping <-> discarding; and the style rules for 
the open-source project will mandate the same.

Similarly - shortened versions would be too under the same auspices. 
This isn't anything to do with being dictatorial or just a control-freak 
- its about ensuring consistency of communication. Every line of code 
which we write that goes into the product needs to endure for a long 
time and be read by many people - so its best that its made as uniform 
as possible at the start.

What people outside those spheres wish to do is entirely up to them - 
although I'd urge people to generally use the preferred forms in all 
cases in your own code, its not like I can come and beat you all around 
the head if you don't.

(Of course, I *can* just not allow them to be included... GOTO TOP).

Warmest Regards,

Mark.

-- 
Mark Waddingham ~ mark at livecode.com ~ http://www.livecode.com/
LiveCode: Everyone can create apps