Raul Miller <rauldmiller@...> writes:
> I believe that any use of m n u v x y as globals, in books, should be
> considered a bug and reported to the author.
I beg to differ with you on this point. From pouring through the Dictionary[1]
(i.e., its very definition), there is no mention of reserved global names,
other
than those which are defined by the language.
This is why, for example, the language elements like Integers ('i.'), Memo
('M.'), and Symbol ('s:') are defined with 2 characters[2]. This makes for a
very smart grammar which does not need to *reserve* words unnecessarily and,
therefore, permits the language to be thoroughly expressive.
It is also, I am guessing, the reason that[3] x and y were earlier designated
as
'x.' and 'y.'. It is this last fact that explains why so many books include
'x'
and 'y' as global words. And rightly so, imho. By not reserving language
elements unnecessarily, users are able to be more expressive and are required
to
remember fewer exceptions.
NOTES
[1] which is *presumably* the official specification for the language
[2] an alphabetic symbol and the name-extension symbol (i.e., '.' or ':')
[3] in previous versions of the language
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