Hi Randall, Each new release of Revolution brings enhancements to the xTalk language. In Revolution 2.9 Beta 9, we introduced the new terms "begins with" and "ends with" for string comparisons, for example. Looking forward, we hope to consider columns in tabular data as a chunk. Whether we add the specific syntax you suggested remains to be seen.
> When we are each required to write low level functions for common > requests "Which word contains char 33", we are pulled away from the > higher level tasks at hand I don't consider the work needed to get what you wanted to be terribly low-level. Looking at your list of desired syntax, these are readily solved with just one or two lines of xTalk using the current chunk expressions. In fact, relative to any other language out there, they are a piece of cake. (And execute extremely quickly.) The difficulty was understanding what you wanted in the first place. I think you received seven different interpretations of your original request! Imagine how a computer would struggle with this. This reminds me a little bit of handwriting recognition. Apple Newton tried to do it full-on and the result was "Newton Poetry" with hilarious misinterpretations of what people wrote. Palm trumped it with Graffiti, which required a slight adjustment on the user's part when it came to how letters were written, but yielded superior results. Nowadays, it seems the inelegant keyboard is still the king of the hill as most people prefer it to either -- even though handwriting recognition and processor power has advanced considerably since 1993. Even on tiny devices like the Blackberry, using just their thumbs, people find a physical keyboard faster and more precise. Will we ever get to a day when people can talk to their computers ala Star Trek? Probably. But be prepared for some hiccups along the way. http://www.zuschlogin.com/content/blogimages/scotty_trek4.jpg > I would hope that we all continue to respect Bill's original intent by > remembering and honoring the elegance and egalitarian humanity of his > work. This respect should go beyond simple romanticism. It should guide > our purchasing decisions and our expectations afterwards. I hope by this you are urging everyone to continue to invest in Revolution, which is the most popular and most advanced incarnation of Atkinson's dream to date, more accessible than ever before (starting at $49 and running on all major platforms) and exploiting the capabilities of those platforms to the utmost. When I think of how far Revolution has come compared to any corresponding span of time under Apple's stewardship (and their vastly larger resources) I'm pretty impressed. - Bill, RunRev marketing guy http://runrev.com/offers/rshb _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [email protected] Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
