Revolution vs Visual Basic

Mikey mikeythek at gmail.com
Wed Mar 8 10:28:05 EST 2006


> Important to know is that in Revolution, effectively everything is a
> string, there are no types. This is both a disadvantage and a huge
> advantage.

This is misleading.  Variables in all xtalk languages are not
strongly-typed.  They are not strings, longints, reals, booleans, or
anything else.  As programmers people frequently think of untyped
variables as strings simply because it is the type that is most
commonly used in all programming.  However, since variables are
untyped, it is possible to take pi, for instance, and in one statement
use it in a mathematical expression:

put pi*diameter into circumference

And then on the very next line use it as a string:

answer "The circumference is:"&&circumference


While one of the real strengths of xtalk languages is that they have
very strong string manipulation routines through chunk expressions,
that does not make variables in an xtalk language a string.  The
difference may seem subtle, but it is important - there is no need to
cast a variable when it is used in different contexts.
--
On the first day, God created the heavens and the Earth
On the second day, God created the oceans.
On the third day, God put the animals on hold for a few hours,
   and did a little diving.
And God said, "This is good."



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