[REBOL] Re: On mutability and sameness
From: kenneth:nwinet at: 16-Jun-2001 19:44
Forgive me, perhaps I've just lost my way in the thread;
> a: 12:30 ; == 12:30
> a/hour: 13 ; == 13:30
> a ; == 12:30
I get 13:30 for that last line.
I seem to be confused by what I thought to be a very simple concept. Unless
we've entered the twilight zone all computer memory still only have two or
three attributes; value, address and perhaps bit-width which can be ignored
for now.
All variables are either direct or indirect addressed regardless of the
language, but I don't think that is even germain to this issue.
equal? is defined as "Returns TRUE if the values are equal."
Which simply means regardless of where it is stored the bits are the same (I
would think.)
same? is defined as "Returns TRUE if the values are identical."
Here's my confusion. I assume that equal? and same? are not aliases for the
same function. So my understanding would hinge on the meaning of identical.
The only meaningful distinction I can come up with is that identical means
at the same address.
if that's the case (and how could it possibly be otherwise?) then...
a: 1:30
b: 1:30
same? a b ;==True
...confuses the hell out of me! Does anyone have an explanation?
Ken.
