On 1 Mar 2007, at 16:17, Richard Gaskin wrote:

Dave wrote:
delete global myArray[17]
does not delete the 17th element, unless the key "17" just happens to the 17th element. The documentation is confusing on this point. Also the whole name "Array" for this datatype is confusing, a better name would be "table", since it doesn't behave like an array at all.

It behaves perfectly well as the associative array it is.

True, but address the 17th element makes no sense in this case, since you are not actually address element 17, but rather the element whose key is "17".

True, most programming languages focus on numerically indexed arrays, so unless you're familiar with associative arrays Rev's implementation can be confusing at first.

I've used them in other languages for ages. In particular SNOBOL4 and SPTOBOL, there they are called "tables" and therefore are confusing to understand.

When I read the part quoted above in the documentation I thought for a moment that myArray[17] was some special usage and wasted times checking that it worked the way I thought it worked. There is really no point in describing the RunRev type of Array in these terms since there is no element 17 or any other numeric index. Whoever wrote the documentation didn't understand how Arrays in RunRev work. If they had been called something less confusing then the problem would not have arisen and I wouldn't have wasted time! That's my main point.

All the Best
Dave

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