[REBOL] Re: Question and comment about randomizing a block of values
From: whip:cs:unm at: 20-Jun-2001 9:22
Howdy, Joel:
> Stupid Question #1:
>
> How were we supposed to know about it?
Huh, I could have sworn one of the changes docs listed at least
RANDOM/only. I know that I also posted that to the list because we
were originally spurred on to add RANDOM/only when Andrew Martin
sent in some block randomizing mezzanines.
So I asked my "stupid question" because I was barging into a long
thread, and I hadn't looked real closely to see if there was some
reason why RANDOM block wasn't used. I just didn't realize people
didn't know about it. :-)
> > Don't mean to lecture (-:, just think this is an important and
> > powerful concept found in series that sometimes gets
> > overlooked. Recognizing this dual nature of REBOL series is very
> > helpful in so many different problem domains.
> >
>
> WADR, understanding the difference between series-as-value and
> series-as-container-of-values is fairly well-established for many of
> us.
Sure, Joel, I was putting my remarks about that for others. I'm
sure you've got all that. :-)
> Stupid Question #2:
>
> How are we to figure out the sense of potentially ambiguous
> refinements (or short verbal descriptions) without resorting to
> trial and error?
I'm not sure. What would you suggest? Extending built-in help?
Hopefully, the list of refinements you don't have direct experience
with should be getting shorter every day. Perhaps make a script to
spit out all functions with refinements, see which one's you haven't
played with, post to the list weird ones, email feedback, get the
president on the line. :-)
> random blockval
>
> is an abbreviation of
>
> foreach item blockval [append [] random item]
>
> which "distributes" RANDOM across the elements of the block and
> produces a block of results (by direct analogy with the result for
> tuple values) where each element is chosen at random within a range
> set by the corresponding element of the original block.
No, because the above isn't guaranteed to be equally distributed
across the blocks contents. You could have duplicates.
> Stupid Question #3:
>
> Is there any more effective way to find out what's going on with
> REBOL (and especially with new releases) other than trial and error?
See stupid answer to stupid question #2. :-)
Hopefully RT will do a better job of keeping people informed of new
stuff.
> Every now and then, I get this nagging feeling that I'm stumbling
> around blindfolded in a dark room full of neat goodies, which I'll
> only find if I happen to stumble over each of them by accident. Or
> by asking stupid questions.
:-) The only stupid question is the one never asked.
Sorry for any confusion or feelings of annoyance. (-:
RANDOM [have a good day]
-jeff
