[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> 2. With respect to the example above:
> a: "1234"
> b: next a
>
> you often refer to 'b as a "series referencing the shared or sharable data
> storage". This is incorrect for two reasons.
>
> 1. It is incorrect because 'b is a word...
> Whenever REBOL evaluates 'b, it always recognizes 'b as a word and operates
> - not on 'b - but on the value referenced by 'b.
>
Strictly speaking, yes. I was engaging in the same sort of verbal
shorthand as if we were discussing the statement
n: 1
and I had said, "After this statement executes, you can add 1 to n and
get 2." I am very much aware that a level of "dereferencing" is
required. If my shorthand caused confusion, I apologize.
I was trying to say (and will now say more carefully) that after
a: "1234"
b: next a
is performed,
'a refers to a series
that series refers to a four-character piece of data
at its first character
'b refers to a series
that series refers to the same four characters above
but at the second character
You seem to be criticizing me for omitting (via what I thought was
common verbal shorthand) the first "refers to", yet denying me the
existence of the second "refers to".
HOWEVER, do we not agree that the phrase "the same four characters"
is accurate? If I modify the data, for example by saying
change b "x"
do we not agree that the change takes place only once in memory,
and yet is visible via the values of either 'a or 'b?
If we agree that "the four-character piece of data" is changed
only once, but is seen via both 'a and 'b, what is so offensive
about asking for a term to refer to the shared data?
-jn-
