Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!lobster!sugar!ficc!peter From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Subject: Re: Dynamic typing (part 3) Message-ID: <039AIL3@xds13.ferranti.com> Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC References: <815@optima.cs.arizona.edu> <20MAR91.08580313@uc780.umd.edu> <21MAR91.23594992@uc780.umd.edu> <22MAR91.20485982@uc780.umd.edu> Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 22:35:16 GMT In article <22MAR91.20485982@uc780.umd.edu> cs450a03@uc780.umd.edu writes: Orig-Paul> Generally, each assignment to a variable is unique. (I try not to Orig-Paul> re-assign, and when I do, I try and make sure re-executing that Orig-Paul> section of code would not cause a problem). Exception made for loop Orig-Paul> counters, but not for other assignments made within the loop. Peter>This is an unusual coding style, in my experience. Are you actually Peter>limitin assignments, or are you hiding those assignments in call by Peter>reference? Perhaps a code fragment would help. Paul> It's not really that unusual... especially when you consider that I Paul> try but don't always succeed ;-) A typical C ferinstance would be any Paul> code where you initialize a table. Other C examples include things Paul> like |= or &= (after initializing with some neutral value). OK, I still don't follow what the point is. Why avoid assignments, and how do you do things like state machines or stepping through a list? Paul> [refering to descriptive comments as type declarations] Peter>But wouldn't it be nice if the language understood those declarations? Paul> Then they'd be code. That's the point. -- Peter da Silva. `-_-' peter@ferranti.com +1 713 274 5180. 'U` "Have you hugged your wolf today?"