Yuval~
On 9/22/05, Yuval Kogman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 08:20:42 +1000, Damian Conway wrote:
> > Ingo Blechschmidt asked:
> >
> > > my $pair = (a => 42);
> > > say ~$pair; # "a\t42"? "a\t42\n"? "a 42"?
> >
> > Not yet specified but I believe it should be "42" (i.e. stringifies to
> > value).
> >
> > Note that S02 does specify that pairs *interpolate* to key-tab-val-newline,
> > so you can still get "a\t42\n" by writing "$pair" instead.
>
> Can we override &circumfix:<" ">?
>
> Seriously though, this is too much dichotomy between correctness and
> ease of use.
>
> A pair is not it's value, it is a pair, and should be consistently
> handled as such when e.g. stringifying.
>
> The reasons for this claim are:
>
> * Coercion to a string creates something interpolatable.
> Introducing another type or context or metaphor for string
> handling is counter intuitive and surprising.
>
> * We have powerful facilities for interpolation and
> stringification that don't have to be hidden behind operator
> overloading:
>
> "this is my special pair: $pair";
> "otherwise: $pair.key -> $pair.value";
> my multi &prefix:<~> (Pair $p) {
> "key: $p.key, value: $key.value";
> }
> "not like the first interpolation: $pair";
> $pair.as(...);
>
> These examples are flexible, explicit and stable in their
> behavior. They are good enough as they are and don't need to be
> "improved" by adding flexibility in something that is almost a
> special case.
>
> * This adds complexity without much benefit. It heaps up the core
> with a special case that people will have to look out for later,
> and it hinders the usability of higher order functions by making
> it harder for them to accept the stringiciation operator, for
> instance.
>
> This lessens Perl 6 stability and cleanliness into something
> resembling Perl 5 with more builtin data types and operations
Well said! I completely agree that string interpolation should be
handled exactly the same as stringification. I would like C< ("foo is
$foo of course") eq ("foo is " ~ $foo ~ " of course") > at all times.
Matt
--
"Computer Science is merely the post-Turing Decline of Formal Systems Theory."
-Stan Kelly-Bootle, The Devil's DP Dictionary
