Norman Walsh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > / "Matt G." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> was heard to say: > | As a matter of fact, I'd guess that more often than not, variablelist > | is used to list things other than variables. > > Ah, the "variable" in variablelist isn't really for programming > language variables. It's really a description list. In fact, if HTML > had come first, we probably would have called it a descriptionlist. As > it is, I don't really recall the etymology.
Seems like "Associativelist" might be a more accurate name. Isn't a Variablelist basically the same thing as a Lisp/Scheme "alist" -- just a list of associated pairs? That is, aren't the "keys" paired with "values" in an alist just more general names for "terms" paired with "descriptions" (the names used in the Variablelist documentation)? A Glosslist is a specific list of glossary terms paired with their associated definitions, so maybe the name "Variablelist" was chosen to imply a more generic list of associated pairs -- one that could be used for "variable" purposes, not just for term/definition pairs. Regardless, I guess "Variablelist" is sort of confusing, not very precise, because it doesn't imply anything about pairing or association. If you think of the name as parallel to "Glosslist" (and don't read the documentation), I guess it might be natural to assume that a Variablelist is a list of variables. -- Michael Smith, Tokyo, Japan http://sideshowbarker.net マイク Amalgams are abundant, but the lone student of the Mines adores Alloyless things - --Emily Dickinson (*340) http://www.logopoeia.com/ed/