Re: openr and /get_lun

["J.D. Smith" <jdsmith(at)astro.cornell.edu>]

"Robert S. Mallozzi" wrote:
> 
> In article <38FB4B75.936477C5@astro.cornell.edu>,
>         "J.D. Smith" <jdsmith@astro.cornell.edu> writes:
> > "Robert S. Mallozzi" wrote:
> >>
> >> I sure wish we had a boolean datatype - the mistake of
> >> using something like "IF (NOT error) THEN" is one that
> >> is really a pain to find, although it certainly makes
> >> your code much more readable.
> >
> > We don't need a boolean data type... we need IF to examine not just the first
> > bit of the value, but the whole thing, and use C's 0=false, anything else =true
> > paradigm.  Here's hoping.
> >
> > if NOT 2 then print,"this isn't right!"
> 
> 
> This would certainly break backward compatibility - there
> has to be someone, somewhere that relies on the fact that in
> IDL, odd = true and even = false !  I feel as you do that this
> was a design mistake made a long time ago, in a programmer's
> mind far, far away...

Anyone who thinks 2 is false deserves to have his programs broken.