[REBOL] Re: [AWK GREP] AWK and GREP funcs, arg order
From: GedB::Rushcoding::co::uk at: 18-May-2007 10:12
On 5/18/07, Gregg Irwin <gregg-pointillistic.com> wrote:
> Both AWK and GREP take the program/pattern first. I did that for both
> of mine originally, then changed RAWK to take the sources first, which
> I think I prefer. They could both eventually load their program or
> pattern specs from disk, and files can be a single name, a block of
> files, a file spec (glob), or a variable.
>
> Are we applying the program to the files, or the files to the program?
>
> -- Gregg
>
I think the logic is that the program/pattern is mostly likely to be
reused against different files.
For example, if you have a pattern for cleaning up whitespace then
that pattern is unlikely to change. You will, however, apply that
pattern to different files. So the part that is most likely to change
is kept at the end.
This especially makes sense in a command line environment, since it
involves retrieves the commands last use, deleting the last paramater
and typing a new one.
If the file to be update came first, you would have to retrieve the
last use, navigate to the filename, delete it while being careful to
leave the pattern intact, and then insert the new filename.
Ged.
