[REBOL] Re: teaching rebol
From: lmecir:mbox:vol:cz at: 2-Apr-2003 19:19
Hi Ingo,
...
> what I really wanted to do was hint to the difference of
>
> a: b
>
> for a and b being numbers opposed to a and b being, e.g. strings, will
> have to think about it again
...
you are right. There is a need to explain some "unusual" properties.
A lot of explanations tries to point at the difference between simple datatypes and "container"
datatypes, like
a: 0
b: 0
versus
c: ""
d: c
e: ""
Unfortunately, the cases are more similar, than many are admitting.
1) Even an integer can be considered to "contain" some properties (eg. the values of
its 32 bits or a datatype)
2) For the same reason why you cannot change the value of an integer, it isn't possible
to change the index of a string or its type. Of course, this has nothing to do with your
ability to "create/obtain" a new value having different properties than the original
had.
Regards
-L
