On Sun, May 13, 2001 at 11:37:01PM -0500, Me wrote:
> Yes. But I'm not sure that:
>
> # ordered
> @array = (1, 2, 3, 5, 8);
>
> # unordered
> %hash = (Fred => 22, Jane => 30);
>
> is more or less typical than:
>
> # unordered:
> @array = ('England', 'France', 'Germany');
>
> # ordered:
> %hash = (Name => 'Ralph',
You're right, the want of an ordered hash is common, but definately
not in the majority (and its quite a bit slower and eats more memory).
There have been numerous proposals for giving various easy ways to
declare the sort order for a hash. http://dev.perl.org/rfc/124.pod is
one. The idea of variable attributes is another.
When all the smoke clears, it will be relatively simple to declare an
ordered hash probably on the order of adding a single word to its
declaration. Whipping up a storm about it is unnecessary.
> 11 "normal people" (perl beginners) have responded
> to this so far.
While there is merit in taking beginners's needs into account, it is
not wise when designing a language to alter features just for
beginners. As elitist as this may sound, they are beginners and will
advocate short-term solutions. They don't quite know what works best
in the long run.
Also, I don't equate beginners with "normal" (perhaps "loud"). After
all, beginners don't stay beginners for long. For every beginner now
there will be one less in a year (either they've gotten better or
they're doing something else). The only new font of beginners is
brand-new programmers. Again, they should be taken into account and
the learning curve banked for speed as much as possible, but you don't
design a language around them.
For most of your programming life, you are not a beginner.
Anyhow, this is how you get things like BASIC.
(PS 11 people isn't a statistic, its a night at the pub)
--
Michael G. Schwern <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.pobox.com/~schwern/
Perl6 Quality Assurance <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Kwalitee Is Job One
Maybe they hooked you up with one of those ass-making magazines.
-- brian d. foy as misheard by Michael G Schwern
