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[REBOL] Re: Does the REBOL book clarify REBOL semantics?

From: g:santilli:tiscalinet:it at: 21-Nov-2000 12:31

j-sw wrote:
> There doesn't seem to be a place in the manual where > this crucial matter is explained in terms of say > 'by copy', 'by value', 'by reference', etc - conventional > usage that can clarify matters greatly.
This is because REBOL just passes values. Some REBOL values are immutable (=> "passed by value"), some (mainly SERIES!) are mutable (=> "passed by reference"). The use of 'word or :word in function definitions fro argument names changes the way function arguments are retrieved, not how they are passed. 'word means: if the argument is a word, don't evaluate it, but just pass the word, as if it was a lit-word; :word means: if the argument is a word, pass its value without evaluating it; otherwise just pass the next value without evaluating it. If you find this unclear, just let me know, and I'll try to explain it better. Regards, Gabriele. -- Gabriele Santilli <[giesse--writeme--com]> - Amigan - REBOL programmer Amiga Group Italia sez. L'Aquila -- http://www.amyresource.it/AGI/