Re: terminology conflicts, etc. [was: Re: A date IS a date]
Re: terminology conflicts, etc. [was: Re: A date IS a date]
- Subject: Re: terminology conflicts, etc. [was: Re: A date IS a date]
- From: Philip Aker <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:08:41 -0800
On 2008-02-13, at 05:23:20, has wrote:
Ruby variable:
foo
Ruby symbol:
:foo
Ruby command:
obj.foo
AppleScript variable:
foo
AppleScript symbol:
foo
AppleScript command:
foo
Please show me where in the above syntax AppleScript is hiding the
semantic cues that tells both me and it whether any given 'foo' is
a variable, symbol or command name.
[...]
This has nothing to do with namespaces. A namespace is a collection
of attributes,
Not quite accurate Hamish. For instance in C++ one can define
objects, operators, variables, member functions, etc. in a namespace.
In XML Schema one can redefine elements imported into a namespace
from another namespace and in Tcl, redefine just about anything
except for the built-in comparison operators.
I'm not disagreeing that given the current state of technology, it's
more expedient to use a qualified symbol scheme. But as for foo, foo,
and foo, AppleScript claims to be "English-like" rather than
computeresque. The example AppleScript foos have no "English-like"
context. The greater goal and challenge is interpreting English (and
now by extension all that is expressible in Unicode) - something that
all other computer languages I've encountered avoid. So while
practical, by AppleScript standards, these languages are somewhat
cowardly in their avoidance of the "human language" interface.
not a place where you reinvent the grammar of the language itself.
Holy Grail,
Philip Aker
echo email@hidden@nl | tr a-z@. p-za-o.@
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