Too badd I mizspeld "Atkinson". OMG #FAIL
On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 8:30 PM, Mike Kerner <mikeker...@roadrunner.com>wrote: > I know I'm stuck with it, but I wish there was a preference that I could > tick. Sometimes I even wish I was actually good at C so I could take the > source and fix it. > > No, wait. Maybe I can fund forking it just for the sake of fixing that > one thing. > > > On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 6:39 PM, Richard Gaskin <ambassa...@fourthworld.com > > wrote: > >> That was some damn fine writing, my friend. >> >> There's too much code floating around for the delimiter behavior to >> change, but your most excellent post earned you a dinner next time you're >> in LA, or at RevLive in San Diego next year. It would be my pleasure. >> >> Yep, xTalk is sometimes funky, like the rest of the imperfect world in >> which it was born. >> >> But like any language, it's the community that makes a language great - >> and I'm glad you're in this one. >> >> >> -- >> Richard Gaskin >> Fourth World >> LiveCode training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com >> Webzine for LiveCode developers: http://www.LiveCodeJournal.com >> Follow me on Twitter: >> http://twitter.com/**FourthWorldSys<http://twitter.com/FourthWorldSys> >> >> >> Mike Kerner wrote: >> >> We also had this debate on several bug reports at quality.runrev.com, so >>> you will find much of this hashed out over there, over several bug >>> reports. Excuse me while I wax extemporaneously for a moment. >>> >>> >>> My fellow LiveCoders, I implore you, to reach within your souls and ask >>> yourselves, are not all commas created equal? Is a naked comma on front >>> of >>> a list somehow more important than the lowly little one on the back? Are >>> you so jaded by the unwashed masses of C# hackers trying to convince you >>> that if your language doesn't have a ++ operator it isn't worthy? No! >>> It >>> is a sophisticated, verbose, beautiful and easy-to-read language that >>> will >>> not allow such abominations as "this me" to exist without a fight. It >>> is a >>> language that has survived almost thirty years and has maintained that >>> pure, amazing quality that is lacking from almost every other language >>> that >>> has evolved over that time - it is not a write-only language. It wants >>> to >>> be read. it wants to be updated and modernized. It doesn't require >>> anywhere near the number of comments or hacks or tweaks, because so much >>> of >>> it is self-explanatory. >>> >>> In light of that, I say to you that it is a language that should not >>> count >>> an empty item on the front of a list while ignoring the one in the back. >>> We are not those people. We are better than that. We are not so steeped >>> in tradition and the foibles of those who came before us that we leave >>> them >>> alone like they are sacred, because the code they wrote on their >>> black-and-white Mac Pluses, when HyperCard came on a stack of 3-1/2" >>> disks, >>> is somehow more important than the code we write now. >>> >>> If someone brand new comes to this list - someone who has never used >>> LiveCode, or Runtime Revolution, or SuperCard, or HyperCard or any of the >>> other children or grandchildren of Bill Adkinson - if someone brand new, >>> who does not value legacy over sanctimony comes to this list, and you >>> explain to them what a container is, what empty is, what an itemDelimiter >>> is, and how these tools laugh in the face of type declarations, and show >>> them ",a", and ask them "How many items does that string contain?", what >>> would they say? If after they answer, and you show them "a," and ask >>> them >>> the same question, what would they answer then? >>> >>> Why is it that we treat the items in our lists like they are schleps in a >>> queue to throw down their hard-earned Benjamins for a Taylor Swift >>> concert? Do we not believe in equality? Do we really believe that "a," >>> and ",a" are different? No. Today I say to you that every item was >>> created equal - even the last one. Our past is imperfect, but our future >>> can be. Why is it that an empty item anywhere in a list matters, unless >>> it >>> is at the end? It does matter. It is significant. It must be counted. >>> >>> For my part, I frequently run into this issue when I am working with >>> databases and LiveCode. "SELECT name, address1, address2" is one example >>> where the developer is begging for trouble, because the last item may >>> very >>> well be empty, and therefore not worthy of counting. Yet that is not >>> nearly as horrible as what would happen if I were to INSERT or UPDATE >>> using >>> a list, either from a dataGrid or a container. The errors returned are >>> an >>> open sore that remind you that not all items are created equal. Not all >>> items are significant. Not all items deserved to be counted. >>> >>> If we are to continue with this deep, age-old injustice, then I say to >>> you >>> that the Scots must fix every other command that might somehow be >>> affected >>> by a blank lasty, and ensure that we are not reminded that trailing blank >>> items even exist. The database functions, when faced with "SELECT name, >>> address1, address2" should return an extra comma on the end of the >>> results >>> when address2 is blank, because even though they do not want to face an >>> empty last item, I must be on the watch for them, lest the "INSERT" that >>> follows breaks my app and leaves me to gnash my teeth on the bitter taste >>> of being so close, and yet so far. >>> >>> >>> So, in closing, I simply ask you to say it with me now: >>> >>> "Every comma is significant, even the last one." >>> >>> -- >>> On the first day, God created the heavens and the Earth >>> On the second day, God created the oceans. >>> On the third day, God put the animals on hold for a few hours, >>> and did a little diving. >>> And God said, "This is good." >>> >> >> >> ______________________________**_________________ >> use-livecode mailing list >> use-livecode@lists.runrev.com >> Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your >> subscription preferences: >> http://lists.runrev.com/**mailman/listinfo/use-livecode<http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode> >> > > > > -- > On the first day, God created the heavens and the Earth > On the second day, God created the oceans. > On the third day, God put the animals on hold for a few hours, > and did a little diving. > And God said, "This is good." > -- On the first day, God created the heavens and the Earth On the second day, God created the oceans. On the third day, God put the animals on hold for a few hours, and did a little diving. And God said, "This is good." _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
