> From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Hello, REBOLers ! > > > > Just for a bit of "syntactic sugar" :-) : > > Is it possible to define new infix operators ? > > I tried : > > > > >> ||: make op! ... etc. > > ** Script Error: Cannot use make on datatype! value > > > > It would be a very nice feature (a la Prolog, or C++) to define (or > > "overload") some operators. > > > > Cheers: > > Geza Lakner MD > > Interesting idea. In fact, I've been pondering the chicken and egg argument > about REBOL in terms of whether the operators are natively prefix or infix. > My guess is that they are defined as prefix, like most of REBOL, and then > REBOL uses a dialect in essence in evaluating expressions as infix. > > It is "easy" to define new operators as prefix. For example: > > ||: :or > || 1 2 ; yields 3 > > I know that this is not quite the syntactic sugar that you're looking for, > but it demonstrates REBOL's flexibility, nonetheless. > > Maybe if it's not "top secret", or something, RT can put my mind to rest > over whether the infix notation is just a type of dialect. I.m really > curious about this one. > --Scott Jones From: "Larry Palmiter" > Hi Scott > > Interesting speculation, and there were early statements from RT that the > infix form was translated to prefix by the interpreter before evaluation. > But I think there has been some optimisation along the way that invalidates > "pure" models of the behavior. Here is an interesting test (450 MHz PII): > > >> t: now/time loop 10'000'000 [3 + 4] now/time - t > == 0:00:08 > >> t: now/time loop 10'000'000 [+ 3 4] now/time - t > == 0:00:12 > >> t: now/time loop 10'000'000 [add 3 4] now/time - t > == 0:00:12 > > Notice that "+" used as an infix operator is at least 1.5 times faster than > when used as a prefix operator. The prefix "+" and "add" execute in the same > time. If there were a simple translation from infix to prefix, the infix > form would be slower. > > Cheers > -Larry Most excellent, Larry. That was a clever approach, (it would have been even *more* clever if I had thought of it ;-), and I agree with your conclusion. Now maybe I can sleep again at night knowing that it is infix before prefix (a curious play on words, if I must say so). Thanks. --Scott Jones -- To unsubscribe from this list, please send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" in the subject, without the quotes.
