Re: When is "z" != "z" ?

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

 



2006/6/6, Robert Cummings <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

On Tue, 2006-06-06 at 00:01, Martin Alterisio wrote:
> > Because defining ++ and < and > in such a way as to make them "behave
like
> > numbers" would have made them not work for alphabetizing.  A string is
a
> > string, and comparison of strings is alphabetic (for some definition
of
> > alphabet).  It's more useful to deal with strings as strings than to
make
> > them quack like numbers.
> >
>
> Then, if it's not a math operation, why use a math operator for such
> functionality? In which way is the ++ operator that generates a string

I don't ever remember seeing ++ in math class. I do remember seeing it
in lots of computer classes and to that end it was "just an operator"
with whatever semantic meaning was applied to it for a given language. I
guess it's usually to increment an integer, but that's just "in
general". I mean if we want to get into "math" operators being used for
string purposes, then we should look at how many languages use the "+"
operator to concatenate two strings -- by your accounts they should
treat their operands as integers and do a rote addition.

> sequence, useful enough to justify the formal inconsistency between the
math
> operators? I still don't see the advantages of having the ++ recognize
the
> string as a sequence, and generate the next item in the sequence. I
believe
> those decisions should be left to the coder, because he knows what the
> string really represents and which kind of sequence is being used.

In C++ they do leave it to the coder, and well, we all know what a mess
it can be deciphering overloaded operators in C++ (or maybe we ALL
don't). At any rate, the PHP overlords made a choice, and IMHO the best
choice. For such a fringe issue I don't see what the argument is all
about. If you want the functionality you get in C by incrementing a
char, then use the chr() function on an integer.


You're right about ++ operator not to be considered a math operator, my
mistake. What I should have said is that the usual connotation and expected
behaviour of ++ and the comparison operators is to give iteration
capabilities to a certain data type, as used in a for statement. For that to
happen certain constrains must be true for these operators, one of them
being: any < ++any, which is not true for the way these operators behave in
php.

I'm not saying "It's wrong let's change it right away!", I completely agree
that these rules can be bent on a not strongly typed language. The point I'm
trying to make, the thing I want to understant without a trace of doubt, is:
is it really worthy the functionality supplied with the string ++ operator
as it is? I don't see its usefullness yet.

[Index of Archives]     [PHP Home]     [Apache Users]     [PHP on Windows]     [Kernel Newbies]     [PHP Install]     [PHP Classes]     [Pear]     [Postgresql]     [Postgresql PHP]     [PHP on Windows]     [PHP Database Programming]     [PHP SOAP]

  Powered by Linux