Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!sugar!ficc!peter From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Subject: Re: Dynamic typing (part 3) Message-ID: Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC References: <730@optima.cs.arizona.edu> Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 18:03:24 GMT In article <730@optima.cs.arizona.edu> gudeman@cs.arizona.edu (David Gudeman) writes: > In article <-B0A9_3@xds13.ferranti.com> Peter da Silva writes: > ]That's because "real exp(real);" is programmed into everyone's head. If > ]you have "complex y;" then "y <= 0;" is a syntax error. > That's the point! If you _don't_ write "complex y", and somewhere you > have "y <= 0", then you know that y is not complex. There is no > pressing reason why you should have to write "real y" in most cases. But if you don't know that y is complex, you don't know if "y <= 0" is legal or not... working code or a bug. The only reason you can get away with this in mathematics is everyone has had a bunch of Fortran-style' default typing rules programmed into their head in college. And even so, different mathematical languages disagree and you have to introduce people to these new typing rules... -- Peter da Silva. `-_-' peter@ferranti.com +1 713 274 5180. 'U` "Have you hugged your wolf today?"