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[REBOL] Re: ROUND function (like TRUNC, FLOOR, etc...)

From: joel:neely:fedex at: 20-Feb-2002 7:00

Hi, Brett, Not that I would ever dissent, but... ;-) Brett Handley wrote:
> Hi, > > > Well, okay, but for consistancy's sake, why wasn't 'to-object > > chosen as its name? > > Hopefully the language designer will answer definitively, in > between times my purely subjective thoughts.. > > I'd sort of assumed that it was a forward looking change. > > Also, CONTEXT has an educational quality about it - it reminds > me to think about where/when objects can be used. On this > basis I was glad for its introduction. >
The problem I had with the name is that the concept of "a context" is very specific in REBOL, and that concept shows up in multiple places. A function has a context, an object has a context, there is a global context, and every application of USE creates a context (at least AFAICT). That's a different idea from having a "shortcut" for MAKE OBJECT! (especially as it saves only five keystrokes...) As I understand results from cognitive science and semantics, it is harder to learn/understand two meanings for a word that are almost-the-same-but-not-quite than two meanings which are really different. Try having a conversation in which it's important to know whether someone has said "a context" or "a CONTEXT", and I think the point will be made. I learned a very wise saying from my father: Communicate not so that you CAN be understood, but so that you MUST be understood. (not that I always succeed... ;-) -jn- -- ; sub REBOL {}; sub head ($) {@_[0]} REBOL [] # despam: func [e] [replace replace/all e ":" "." "#" "@"] ; sub despam {my ($e) = @_; $e =~ tr/:#/.@/; return "\n$e"} print head reverse despam "moc:xedef#yleen:leoj" ;