>Generally in programming, a null or void pointer is all 0's,
Very true, for a pointer.
>So, this can be very convenient actually
Or inconvenient, if you're trying to do something like:
if value(getaProp(gplFlagList, #CLUE)) <> VOID then -- Problem! 0
evaluates as VOID
>Now there are some who will argue from a purity standpoint against this
>(probably insisting on OOP practices to boot, nothing against them), but
>for practical everyday programming, it's pretty darn handy. If the user
>just called the function without passing anything in, that's effectively
>the same as having a default of FALSE.
I guess I'm whistling in the wind, but I'm one of those purists. To me,
there's a world of difference between a null pointer and a null value.
I guess it's part of the tradeoff between the flexibility of Lingo and the
protection you get from the strong typing of a language like C or Pascal.
But I'm mostly a Lingo programmer these days, so I guess I'll do it Lingo's
way--when you're in Rome etc. etc. :-)
Thanks for the info.
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
Learning Network
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