>> If I have "0", it's possible I might at some point (this having been >> user input perhaps) have some reason to care whether it was an integer >> or a string. > > How would the user distinguish when providing the input? The Perl 5
having slept now, the same thought occurs to me ... I think I wasthinking of the user typing "0" to show that they're putting it in in string context ... but then the variable would hold ""0"" ... which seems like it'd solve the problem itself, at that point, since a user defined entity can now /\"\d+\"/ to find out if it's built that way even if it does collapse back to a number >> I know I hate the fact that, in almost every lang I use, adding the >> strings "014" and "231" requires me to do ' "" + string1 + "" + >> string2 ' > > Fortunately Perl isn't one of those languages. In general you need for I should learn not to read/respond when i'm tired :o I was thinking of all the Java & JS I've been doing the last couple weeks. Perl I'd just do "$a$b" and be done with it. >> ... I imagine there might exist cases where the information is useful >> ... > > I'm struggling to think of any -- if you come up with some please could > you mail them so I can understand your viewpoint better. Needing to > know about this kind of thing strikes me as most unPerlish. Yeah, since the user would have to in some way dicatate that it was a string value (typing "0" or such), the code will actually receive enough information to build that if the programmer wants it. And I have ZERO idea what I was thinking of as a "useful case" ... But since it is user-garnerable information, and no cases are springing to mind, I retract my earlier comments and say that it might be interesting in some case, but in the same case it is feasible to simply allow the programmer to generate it rather than killing ops generating it automatically ... --attriel (I'll quit posting just before I go to bed now :o)
