Not wild about any of the suggestions so far. The @ implies that what follows
is the location of something, not the thing itself. Do we really need to be
concerned about variables in Classic Rexx on platforms that don't run ooRexx in
the first place?
-Chip-
-------- Original message --------From: Mike Cowlishaw <m...@speleotrove.com>
Date: 4/12/18 21:58 (GMT-05:00) To: 'Open Object Rexx Developer Mailing List'
<oorexx-devel@lists.sourceforge.net> Subject: Re: [Oorexx-devel] Discussion:
Adding variable references to ooRexx.
Yes, I wasn't keen on arrows or '^' either
:-).
But I'm even more un-keen on
'&'. <<shudder>>
How about '*', then, as being still
being one of the two ends of the C
notation?
I’m even less keen on using *. Now that C++ allows you to declare
arguments as being references rather than pointers, I've been moving away
from
using pointers as arguments.
A resemblance to exec2 is not
that strong of an argument when you consider a large portion of the ooRexx
users have never even heard of the language.
That really isn't true .. almost all ooRexx users are Rexx users,
mostly ex- (or current) mainframers.
And
it's not like every variable is going to suddenly acquiring a leading '&'.
This will generally be used in a few selective place, such as situations
where
you wish to return multiple values back from a call or method.
However or wherever it is used it would
be inexplicable, and if it is used only rarely then it would be even more
baffling when it appears. What does the 'and' operator have to do with
references?
This would be a classic example of
a bewildering notation that makes a language inscrutable. When seen,
users would be forced to open the manual to figure out what it
does. In short: maybe a nice addition to Perl, but it has no
place in a Rexx language.
Mike
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