You'll have fun with REBOL then.
REBOL is like a lake. On the surface, it is simple for beginners.
You can write a lot of "one liners" that do useful things. But,
there is great depth to the language, as it is the result of 20
years and over 50 languages. Programs can be very sophisticated.
Learn REBOL series. That's the basis for the entire language.
If you learn series first, the rest will come much easier.
Here are the biggest errors that you will encounter:
#1:
if condition [do this] [do that]
IF is a function that takes only two args! The second block is
just data and not processed by IF. Used EITHER or IF/ELSE.
Why not give an error? Because you may have written:
reduce [if a > b ["item"] [1 2 3]]
#2:
test: function [n] [m] [
m: ""
insert m "!"
print m
]
The string is literal, it persists over all calls to the function.
So, you need to do either:
clear m
to clear the literal,
m: copy ""
to copy it first, or:
m: make string! 10
to dynamically create the string.
This rule applies to literal blocks, and data within blocks too.
So, if you need to reuse a block:
b: copy []
b: make block! 10
clear b
#3:
And finally, REBOL uses *very* simple precedence rules, so you
don't have to memorize ** comes before * before + before = etc.
It's left to right.
5 + 3 * 10 = 80
TRUE.
What's interesting is how many time I've found that evaluation
order to work better than precedence rules. I did not expect that.
It was a delightful result.
Suppose I should post this to our site?
-Carl
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of
> Tom Schaeper
> Sent: Friday, April 27, 2001 5:28 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [REBOL] Introduction
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> May you only receive this post once. Yesterday I posted from my webhosts
> email browser and it got a little carried away and sent several posts. The
> webhost is currently head scratching on the problem.
>
> My name is Tom Schaeper and I'm and language junkie. I love new languages
> because the paradigm of each one forces a new way of thinking about a
> problem.
>
> I am at heart a Basic programmer and my profession is as a programmer in
> PICK/Universe/Unidata databases. I chose that vocation because the
> enviroment encouraged creating applications as opposed to writing
> code, much
> like REBOL.
>
> Over the years I have dabbled in:
> Forth: wrote a pong style game on an Atari 800
> C: Not really my style
> Snobol: Kinda fun once you get the syntax
> APL: Wonderfully compact language
> LISP: Very powerful, but pretty ugly
> Fortran: I prefer BASIC
> COBOL: Just say no : )
> PL/I : see COBOL
> PASCAL: Fun, but a lot of work
> Perl: Created dynamic replicating web pages
>
> REBOL is just amazing. So much power in so little space! Reminds
> me of Forth
> with a readable syntax. If it had a good multidimensional database behind
> it, I think it would rule the world.
>
> Thanks for your patience with my ramblings. I enjoy all your
> posts and read
> every one.
>
> Take care,
> Tom Schaeper
>
> --
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