Heh... ok... I know that I am not a MUMPS guru.. or even n00b but.... I have written both compilers and interpreters.... in the dim dim dim dim dim dim recesses of time... And I can't help but think, that it isn't the best thought out feature (reads mistake) of the language. I think that operator precedence is valid even in math and not only in computer languages. The only reason I can think of left to right is because it was easy and doesn't require any heavy parsing.
But... then again... I accept that I could be totally and completely wrong... it has happened before..... um... at least I think it has. :) On Sat, 2005-08-20 at 17:26 -0400, smcphelan wrote: > For this esoteric message, is left-to-right really easier for all people, > e.g., Israelis or anyone else who native language is to read right to left? > > M was developed in the US so it is natural that that language adopted a > Western perspective. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Holloway, Thomas (EDS)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net> > Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 4:45 PM > Subject: RE: [Hardhats-members] MUMPS features > > > Maybe it's a case of reductio ad absurdum but if I have a long > arithmetic list like: > > 5+9+33+87-92+28+77*4-15-61+88+342 > > why in the world would I go into the middle to multiply 4*77 before > starting on the rest of the math? That makes no sense at all. > Multiplication trumps addition? Are we playing bridge here? And yes, > having studied other languages I'm aware of their weird operator > precedence and, much like Jim, can't remember which does what. Left to > right, what could be simpler? Just like reading. Can you imagine > reading a line of code where For and Do took precedence over If and > Write? I vote left-to-right (as if this were a decision that had to be > made.) > > Thom H. > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO > September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices > Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA > Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
