[REBOL] Obtaining a word's value
From: joel::neely::fedex::com at: 5-Jul-2001 11:49
Hi, all,
As a break in the discussion of whether to include our thumbs when
we count on our fingers... ;-) let me pose the following question:
Given a word A which currently "has" an associated value,
how many distinct means does REBOL offer by which can we
retrieve that value?
A starter list of answers for the simple case
>> a: "this is a test" ;== "this is a test"
would include
>> a ;== "this is a test"
>> :a ;== "this is a test"
>> do [a] ;== "this is a test"
>> do "a" ;== "this is a test"
>> first reduce [a] ;== "this is a test"
>> get 'a ;== "this is a test"
>> get/any 'a ;== "this is a test"
>> get first [a] ;== "this is a test"
>> get to-word "a" ;== "this is a test"
>> (a) ;== "this is a test"
>> any [a] ;== "this is a test"
By "distinct means" I hope to exclude variations on any theme that
really don't add new/distinct capabilities. For example, since
do [a]
is on the list above, is there any point in adding
do [do [do [a]]]
and, since
any [a]
is already listed, can we pass over trivial variations such as
any [false a]
any [none false a]
or are there actual differences (beyond increased run-time) for
some possible values of A ?
-jn-
___________________________________________________________________
The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers!
- R. W. Hamming
joel'dot'neely'at'fedex'dot'com
