From: Matt Armstrong <matt@...>
Date: 2003-01-24T02:14:48+09:00
Subject: Re: Symbols: More Functionality Wanted

Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@soyabean.com.au> writes:

> On Thursday, January 23, 2003, 6:28:04 AM, dblack wrote:
>
>> Binding#bind doesn't sound right to me.  I would say either:
>
>>   - bind a symbol to a value, or
>>   - add a symbol to a binding
>
>> but not "bind a symbol to a binding."  At least, that's what my
>> language sense tells me.
>
>> Binding#add, maybe?
>
> Binding#add doesn't sound right if the symbol you're binding already
> has a binding.

The problem is that Binding is the wrong name for the class.  A
variable binding associates a variable with a value, but the Binding
class represents a collection of bindings.  E.g. this seems right:

    Binding.new(symbol, value)

I.e. create a single binding of a symbol to a value.  Typically a
collection of bindings is called a Environment or Context.

    Environment#bind(symbol, value)

makes more sense.