the := operator (affectation

[Dar Scott]

On Jun 23, 2005, at 11:17 AM, Dennis Brown wrote:

> The "get x" construct is already a syntactic equivalent of "it= x" 
> (left assignment).
> That could be expanded to the general form "it gets x".
> Now we have a general xTalk flavored version using the new "gets" 
> keyword.
> From there just substitute any shortcut for "gets" like "gts" or "=".
>
> There you have it.  Elegance, consistency, and brevity!

There is nothing elegant about "=" for assignment.  IMHO, ":=" is much 
superior and is less offensive.  In mathematics "=" is a relation or 
sometimes a function or sometimes used in "where" or "let" syntax 
(named value scoping).

Commands in xTalk follow the English implied-you imperatives.  The 
deviation from that to a descriptive of the dataflow does not fit.  I 
come from a functional programming background, but I accept the 
imperative style.

Dar
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