Erlang is getting too big

Bengt Kleberg Bengt.Kleberg@REDACTED
Tue Oct 14 13:51:06 CEST 2003


Thomas Lindgren wrote:
> --- Bengt Kleberg <Bengt.Kleberg@REDACTED> wrote:
> 
...deleted
>>
>>oops. what is the difference between ',' and 'and'?
>>and ';' and 'or'? i 
>>have been using them to mean the same thing.
> 
> 
> As I recall, ";" can't be nested inside a guard, while
> 'or' can.
> 

thank you.


...deleted
> 
> 
>>eiffel has 'andalso' and 'orelse'. the only :-)
>>people that finds 'and' 
>>and 'or' strange are the ones that has a c
>>background.
> 
> 
> My main objections are the added noise from long
> names, the limited usefulness of strict and/or, and
> the fact that the obvious names are used for the
> unobvious version.

imho the only people that think it is ''unobvious'' that and/or evaluate 
all their ''arguments'' are the ones that has a c background.


...deleted
>>>My modest proposal:
>>>
>>>- drop is_* guards (unless there is a pressing
>>
>>reason
>>
>>>to keep them?)
>>
>>there is no static typing. therefore it helps (me)
>>to be able to 
>>recognise the return value of a function from its
>>name. one way of doing 
>>this is to teach users (by using the concept in
>>guards) to call 
>>functions that return booleans is_*.
>>
>>moreover, there is a guard float() and a bif
>>float(). the bif returns a 
>>float, not a boolean.
>>this (imho) is confusing
> 
> 
> If that is a big problem, why not introduce a new
> float-making function, rather than a collection of
> extra type tests? Seems simpler all-around.

i find it a good thing (tm) that boolean-return-value-functions are 
recognisable from their name.


bengt




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