[REBOL] Re: sorting a serie ....
From: brett:codeconscious at: 19-Jun-2003 8:39
Hi Arnaud,
There has been plenty responses answering your problem, I just want to add a
little more detail on the reason the solutions work.
1) A block is an ordered sequence of values.
2) [a b c] is a block of three values. These value are of type word! *not
integer!*
3) Words can indirectly express other values. The user guide says "An
indirectly expressed value is unknown until it is evaluated."
In overview, in your example you need to sort [255 1 -1] which is a result
of the evaluation of: REDUCE [a b c].
Sort [red green blue] sorts the three block values - words - using their
spelling as you have discovered.
Looking at some of the solutions.
Max suggested:
print sort compose [(a) (b) (c)]
He was creating the [255 1 -1] block first using Compose.
Max and others suggested
print sort reduce [a b c]
As noted above Reduce creates the [255 1 -1] that is subsequently sorted.
Tim suggested:
print sort/reverse [a b c]
This works because Print implicitly carries out a REDUCE.
Hope that was useful!
Brett.
