Hi Jon, > I just noticed that in 32-bit PicoLisp (pre? 12 1234) returns the > symbol "1234", while in ersatz the same (pre? 12 1234) returns the > number 1234. The latter is what the docs describes.
Well, this is indeed not very clear. Strictly speaking, the docs define the return value only for symbolic arguments: : (pre? "ab" 'abcd) -> abcd : (pre? "ab" "abcd") -> "abcd" However, most functions that expect a symbol name to operate upon, silently convert non-symbolic arguments to transient symbols internally before performing the desired task. This has purely practical reasons. The argument may also be a number or a list (e.g. a 'chop'ped symbol), so that it it not necessary to 'pack' it explicitly. You can, for example, (open <num>) on a numeric file name (e.g. as the result of a computation). You find many of such cases in if you look for 'evSym' (in the C sources) or 'evSymX_E', 'evSymY_E', 'evSymE_E, or 'xSymE_E' (in the assembly sources). Ersatz is a bit wrong in this regard. But due to the different internal mechanisms this doesn't work out well. > I have not tested this in 64-bit PicoLisp. It gives the same results as pil32. ♪♫ Alex -- UNSUBSCRIBE: mailto:picolisp@software-lab.de?subject=Unsubscribe
