Buddha Buck wrote:
> At 05:35 PM 8/31/00 +0000, David L. Nicol wrote:
> >Buddha Buck wrote:
> > > > The array
> > > > syntax would also be useful in multi-dimensional arrays.
> > >
> > > That is if multi-dimensional arrays are implemented as lists-of-lists,
> > > which they might not be.
> >
> >Even if they aren't implemented as lol, they may appear as lol to the
> >programmer
>
> The language-data group is working on multi-dimensional array syntax.
>
> I would like to have (in multidimensional arrays) the various dimensions
be
> equally easy to access. Using lol syntax imposes a hierarchy on the
> dimensions, which makes equal access hard.
>
Not necessarily. _Allowing_ LOL syntax does *not* rule out provides other
syntax which allows direct access to slices of additional dimensions.
Providing both approaches means that all the language constructs and modules
that already support LOLs will continue to work, while n-dim access works as
well. It also avoids creating a new data type.
Anyhow, let's keep this discussion to -data from here... RFC 177 should
probably make -data its home.
