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From: garry@batcomputer.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.lang
Subject: Re: x < y < z  using user-defined types and overloading
Message-ID: <1269@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU>
Date: Thu, 23-Oct-86 18:38:18 EST
Article-I.D.: batcompu.1269
Posted: Thu Oct 23 18:38:18 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 26-Oct-86 01:27:30 EST
Reply-To: garry%cadif-oak@cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu
Distribution: net
Organization: Cornell Engineering && Flying Moose Graphics
Lines: 22

In a recent article brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) wrote:
>Sure, but I have been wondering what all the fuss is.  x < y < z
>is not all that exciting, and not much shorter than what it is
>supposed to shorten.  Certainly I don't see compilers generating
>better code from it.
>

Think back many many years ago to CS 101 and the first time you had
to test whether a number was between two other numbers: how did you
instantly and naturally write it down ?  And what did the compiler
say?


>There are lots of valuable things you can do with more general
>languages, but I don't think this is one of them.  I can't imagine
>a language designer deliberately complicating things just to support
>this one.
>

"Valuable" includes "more understandable", not just "more powerful" :-)

garry wiegand   (garry%cadif-oak@cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu)