From: Yossef Mendelssohn <ymendel@...>
Date: 2007-11-20T00:13:36+09:00
Subject: Re: Open-ended ranges?

On Nov 19, 6:54 am, "Todd Benson" <caduce...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 19, 2007 6:44 AM, al_batuul <al_bat...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Dear Clifford,
>
> >   Defining an open-end class is a great idea;  the rang from 1..nil or 0 to nil could help now, I suggest you add different types of parameters to the class such as time.
>
> >   all the best,
>
> Yes, would it help you really?
>
> Let's make all data define itself.  Let's make stuff work for now.
> I'm not convinced that 1 to (what's supposed to be) some object of
> NilClass will help anybody anywhere.
>

This subject has come up more than once. I've worked on it myself, and
found a passable (if incomplete) solution.

What I don't understand is why so many people find an open-ended range
to be pointless. That is to say I do understand why --- because
they're set on iterating over the range --- but I don't understand why
they consider that to be the only use of a range.

Everyone I've seen who's interested in this (myself included) is using
these ranges for another reason, to indicate a range of acceptable (or
maybe even unacceptable values). A range like 5..Infinity is not
intended for iteration, but for comparison.

--
-yossef