By what rules could one intuit whether a given token is a function or a property?
Jeanne, what's Kamins' argument for this one?
You mean Winkler's? I'm not sure myself. I do note though that global properties in HyperTalk can be expressed as properties of HyperCard - for example, "if the suspended of HyperCard is true..." Written this way, there's no ambiguity - all properties are "of" something - and it could be that leaving off the "of HyperCard" was originally a shortcut.
Differentiating between global properties and no-parameter functions is difficult for me too, for what it's worth. (It's the main reason that for "HT 2.2: The Book", I reorganized the language reference to put the terms in alphabetical order, instead of grouped by type of term - with the first edition, I was always having to look under both Functions and Properties to find things.)
But I rarely use the () form for functions that don't take a parameter, so in practice the confusion isn't normally a problem for me personally when scripting. Just when looking things up. ;-)
And what is the rule that determines when "the" is necessary? Is it required for custom props only, and optional with all others?
I think so. (But it's strongly recommended to always use "the" to reference properties; not using "the" is one of those things that might not always be supported, so....)
--
jeanne a. e. devoto ~ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.jaedworks.com
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