[REBOL] Re: REBOL "issues"
From: gregg:pointillistic at: 6-Nov-2010 10:27
Hi Duke,
DN> So _exactly_ what is the significance of _#_?
It's simple a lexical element in the REBOL grammar. Imagine the parser
going along, breaking a string of characters up and identifying the
types and values. When it comes to a space, the next character guides
it. Is it a digit? Then we need to go further and see if it's a
decimal or an integer. If we see a dollar sign, it's a money! value.
If we see a # followed by an alphanum, it's an issue. If it's a #
followed by a quote, bracket, or curly brace, it's a char, serialized
value, or binary, etc.
More importantly for humans, issue! was intended for serial numbers,
IDs, and the like, which makes the # sigil a good fit.
DN> BTW, is "overloading" a REBOL practice that I'll be discovering to
DN> be the rule and not the exception? :)
No. This is not considered overloading. REBOL is still an ASCII
language, and the lexical space is very tight. # has been pressed into
service for a few notations, which makes it a bit of an exception.
-- Gregg
