From: "David A. Black" <dblack@...>
Date: 2005-05-22T07:00:13+09:00
Subject: Re: Multiple return and parallel assignement

Hi --

On Sun, 22 May 2005, Martin DeMello wrote:

> David A. Black <dblack@wobblini.net> wrote:
>>
>> It's hard, I find, to come up with an exact description of what the
>> unarr?ay (unary unarray) operator does that fits every case.  The
>> closest I've come is: *a = x means: a gets assigned that which, when
>> stripped of one level of array-ness, is x.  Thus:
>
> And a simple rule of thumb to 'implement' it is: every time you remove a
> * on one side of the =, add a [] to the other side.
>
> *a = 1,2 --> a = [1,2]
> *a = *[1,2] --> [a] = [[1,2]] --> a = [1,2]

Yes, though the illegality of [a] = x  is what led me to phrase it in
such a verbose way :-)

However, using that formula:

   a = *[1,2]  --> [a] = [1,2] --> a = 1,2

but a = 1,2 is the same as a = [1,2], which means that all of these
are the same:

   a = 1,2
   a = [1,2]
   a = *[1,2]

which makes sense given the automatic array-wrapping of 1,2 but is
worth noting since it looks kind of odd.


David

-- 
David A. Black
dblack@wobblini.net