On 06/10/2006, at 8:04 am, Axel Liljencrantz wrote:

> The 'local' and 'global' names are used in so many
> other languages that it is very probable that most fish users will be
> familiar with the terms. Or am I wrong here?

You know, I think you MIGHT be wrong.  Or rather, I'm sure you're  
right, but the effect might not be what you want.

Hm, that was pretty unclear, wasn't it?  Let me try again.

Programmers familiar with lots of other languages (e.g., me) will  
instantly THINK they know what "local" and "global" mean.  But they  
won't be used to a context in which it's possible for one instance of  
a program can set values in other instances.  Imagine the panic if a  
C program could set variables in all other running C programs!

Consequently, in other languages "global" means "completely global  
(or, at least, as global as one could reasonably wish)".  But in fish  
it doesn't.

This doesn't, in itself, mean that there's anything wrong with the  
existing names.  (For my opinions on that, see my previous  
messages.)  But it does mean that the APPARENT familiarity of  
"global" is actually potentially misleading.

Jason

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT
Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your
opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys -- and earn cash
http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV
_______________________________________________
Fish-users mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fish-users

Reply via email to