[REBOL] Re: variable scopes and recursive func
From: greggirwin::mindspring::com at: 12-Apr-2005 15:52
MB> I just have the feeling that if one knows about the possible
MB> quirks that might occur one starts to think too much about it.
MB> ...[the] hint from the Rebol-dictionary would have helped without
MB> deeper knowledge, one only shouldn't start to search for the why.
BS> It's just that I've learned from 30+ years of hard experience
BS> that once in a while, I can get into trouble when using some
BS> feature of a language that I didn't think I needed to fully
BS> understand. It doesn't happen very often, but it can be very
BS> frustrating when it does.
I agree; with both of you. :)
For the most part, we can just ignore it and be happy that REBOL does
what we want it to do, but there are those times...and when they
arrive, we need to understand what is happening.
Thinking in different terms is the hard part. For me, the big hurdles
are:
1) Everything is just data (that may be evaluated at some point).
2) "Definitional Scoping", that is, being aware of where something
is defined with regards to context.
3) Everything is data. There is no "code".
4) Remembering that just because you see x someplace and x just a
short "distance" away doesn't mean they're in the same context.
5) Oh yeah, everything is data.
If you can remember that everything is data, I think it makes it
easier to get into the mindset of thinking about context, where things
are defined (because that usually implies some kind of context), etc.
REBOL makes me write (and read) code in a manner *very* different from
other languages.
-- Gregg
