This is disturbing!

[Mike Kerner]

Right.  If the explanation is clear then it's not an issue (even if it is a
little weird - "6.abc"="6.xyz" is false but "6."&CR is "6."&space is true)

On Thu, Sep 6, 2018 at 12:43 PM Mark Waddingham via use-livecode <
use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:

> On 2018-09-06 18:21, Mark Wieder via use-livecode wrote:
> > Yeah. IMO automatic type conversion is one of the failure points of
> > the xtalk paradigm, but it's always been thus.
>
> To be fair, in the days of HyperCard when everything was strings (and
> numbers were decimal strings) the rules worked absolutely fine I think.
>
> However, the use of doubles as the internal rep for numbers, and
> introduction of arrays broke a few invariants a consistent
> implementation of the above view relies upon - hence the annoying points
> of friction.
>
> I don't think implicit type conversion is the problem per-se - just the
> precise details of what gets converted to what, and the inability to say
> 'at this point, this needs to actually be a <foo>'.
>
> If you want to be abstract about it then you can view a programming
> language as a compression algorithm - it is a way to express a set of
> possible outcomes in a linear sequence of text. With that point of view,
> they suffer exactly the same problem as any compression algorithm
> suffers - all compression algorithms will expand some input.
>
> i.e. What you might gain in some places in terms of ease / clarity /
> ability; you will lose elsewhere - the hard bit is making sure that such
> cases are 'edge' cases and easily avoided.
>
> Warmest Regards,
>
> Mark.
>
> --
> Mark Waddingham ~ mark at livecode.com ~ http://www.livecode.com/
> LiveCode: Everyone can create apps
>
> _______________________________________________
> use-livecode mailing list
> use-livecode at lists.runrev.com
> Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your
> subscription preferences:
> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
>


-- 
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."