odd... I thought of interfaces as MUCH easier to implement than null, since interfaces only apply to CFCs and null support would be language-wide.
If I had to choose one, I'd take interfaces, but I want BOTH :) -Dave >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 05/12/05 6:11 PM >>> I understand that adding interfaces could be a big deal, but I would think that you could add a null value fairly easily. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ben Rogers Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 5:28 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [CFCDev] Null values (was CFC wish-list) > It shouldn't be a debate, we aren't demanding that every > CFC developer program in a OO fashion. We are just asking for small > enhancements that would make our lives easier and our applications more > robust. "Small enhancements" is a bit of an understatement. Adding the concept of null values to a 10 year old language that has always treated nulls as empty strings is no small thing. I don't even see how it's possible. Nevertheless, I think it's a great feature request. The reason this stuff is "debated" is because there's a good chance you're going to have to sacrifice backwards compatibility for nulls and interfaces. VisualBasic had to undergo some pretty severe growing pains to become a "proper" OO language. That was 5 years ago and the VisualBasic 6 users are still revolting. I think both you and Hal have overestimated the need for null values. Hal's statement was, "Without this, you can't protect against runtime errors," which makes it sound as if support for nulls is the panacea for all runtime errors -- hence my confusion. In many instances, allowing functions to return null values just shifts the problem or, at least, the responsibility. This is why we so many null pointer exceptions from Java and C#. They are proper OO languages returning null values that the consumer is unprepared to handle. Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing that support for null values, and, in particular, returning null values from functions, is a bad thing. Like I said, I think it's a good feature request, but I question how useful it will be. And even if it is incredibly useful, as far as I can tell, there are remarkably few applications making extensive use of components, which is probably where this feature would be the most useful. > I think this is one area that Blue Dragon could leapfrog CFMX, > and I would seriously think about switching if they did implement > interfaces and null in a proper fashion. I'm much more concerned about compatibility between the implementations. I hope that New Atlanta gets more serious about compatibility, not less. Ben Rogers http://www.c4.net v.508.240.0051 f.508.240.0057 ---------------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to cfcdev. To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected] with the words 'unsubscribe cfcdev' as the subject of the email. CFCDev is run by CFCZone (www.cfczone.org) and supported by CFXHosting (www.cfxhosting.com). CFCDev is supported by New Atlanta, makers of BlueDragon http://www.newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/index.cfm An archive of the CFCDev list is available at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to cfcdev. To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected] with the words 'unsubscribe cfcdev' as the subject of the email. CFCDev is run by CFCZone (www.cfczone.org) and supported by CFXHosting (www.cfxhosting.com). CFCDev is supported by New Atlanta, makers of BlueDragon http://www.newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/index.cfm An archive of the CFCDev list is available at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to cfcdev. To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected] with the words 'unsubscribe cfcdev' as the subject of the email. CFCDev is run by CFCZone (www.cfczone.org) and supported by CFXHosting (www.cfxhosting.com). CFCDev is supported by New Atlanta, makers of BlueDragon http://www.newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/index.cfm An archive of the CFCDev list is available at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
