Per Bothner scripsit:
> [I]t seems that if you were to design a language from scratch you
> probably make a clearer distinction between values and objects.
Actually the distinction is quite clear: something is a value
if it's immutable, and not a value if it is mutable. Henry Baker
nailed this with his EGAL predicate, which is value equality
on immutable things and object identity on mutable things: see
http://home.pipeline.com/~hbaker1/ObjectIdentity.html .
(This is a very interesting paper, and I recommend that anyone
interested in the semantics of equality predicates read it.)
--
Yes, chili in the eye is bad, but so is your John Cowan
ear. However, I would suggest you wash your cowan_at_ccil.org
hands thoroughly before going to the toilet. http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
--gadicath
Received on Sat Feb 10 2007 - 13:30:25 UTC