No strong typing. I think of a variable as a name for something. I am not interested in the underlying implementation of that something. MUMPS allows me to focus on my algorithm, not how many bytes I need to represent an integer.
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Greg Woodhouse Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 4:51 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Hardhats-members] MUMPS features Hmm...I hesitate to do this, for fear of forgetting something, but my MUMPS "greatest hits" list, includes at least 1. Global arrays 2. Hierarchical arrays in general, and especially the ability to store values at non-leaf nodes. 3. An integrated JOB command and the $J special variable 4. Patterns 5. The MERGE command 6. Built in string handling functions 7. Incremental locks (but see below) 8. Indirection and the XECUTE command (again with some caveats) 9. Simplicity By contrast, my "biggest gripes" list includes 1. Default global scope for variables 2. No static scoping 3. No interprocess communication or asynchronous signaling 4. Weak support for I/O 5. I'm sorry, but 2 + 3 * 4 is NOT 20 6. Unintuitive (and not clearly useful) semantics for reference parameters 7. Incremental locks don't block (like semaphores) 8. No distinction between read and write locks 9. No support for namespaces or packages 10. No flexibility with regard to character sets --- Chris Richardson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I don't have much easy association with baseball, but; > > 1) the polymorphic Data Representation (for SET X="12 Cats"); > A) a string, WRITE X > B) an expression, WRITE X+"15 Dogs" > C) a Truth Value, IF X WRITE "True" > D) has properties, WRITE > %DATA(X)_":"_$LENGTH(X)_":"_$LENGTH(X," ") > (and a lot more) > E) has substrings, WRITE $PIECE(X," ",2) > F) extensible, SET X=X_" and kittens" > G) malible, FOR I=$LENGTH(X):-1:1 WRITE $EXTRACT(X,I) > H thru ZZZ) Lots more > 2) data clustering, for the data created by FOR I=1:1:10 SET > X($R(100))=I > A) Evaluated, WRITE $DATA(X) > B) Walked, SET Y="" FOR S J=$ORDER(X($G(J)) QUIT:J="" WRITE > X(J)_":"_J,! > C) Copied, MERGE Z=X > D) Trimmed, SET J=$ORDER(X("")) KILL:J X(J) > E) Killed, KILL X > > More later. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gregory Woodhouse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 7:09 AM > Subject: [Hardhats-members] MUMPS features > > > > I've been thinking about the use of strings as a uniform data > > representation in MUMPS and, to draw an analogy with baseball, it > is > > easy to come up with a hit (such as the ability to use the same > > idioms, e.g., $G(X)="" for different kinds of data), or a double > > (such as being able to intermix numbers and strings as subscripts > to > > the same array), but I can't think of a real home run. Thoughts? > > > > === > > Gregory Woodhouse > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but > > when there is nothing left to take away." > > -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > > SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO > > September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle > Practices > > Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * > Testing & QA > > Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * > http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf > > _______________________________________________ > > Hardhats-members mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO > September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle > Practices > Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing > & QA > Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * > http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > === Gregory Woodhouse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "Design quality doesn't ensure success, but design failure can ensure failure." --Kent Beck ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
