Re: IDL interpreter questions - can someone (D.Fanning) explain -TIA

[<mankoff(at)I.HATE.SPAM.lasp.colorado.edu>]

On Fri, 18 May 2001, JD Smith wrote:

> dadada wrote:
> > How are variables referenced by default?
> I'm not sure what you mean here.  Pointer references?  They are explicit
> only... i.e. you can't create a reference of an existing variable.

Not sure either, but here is my interpretation of the question/answer:

In functions, variables are *always* 'by value'
In procedures, they are 'by value' unless you put a "return" statement
anywhere in the procedure. If this exists, then they are passed 'by
reference'

> > Continuations?
> No continuations.  Non-local exits from recursions are possible using
> standard argument passing, or common blocks.

isn't this beginning to be a part of the language? They just added "break"
and a few other C style conventions. I would expect to see a 'continue' in
one of the upcoming releases. But JD is right, it doesn't exist yet.

> > Suspensions (ie. thunks)?
> No thunks or closures.
what is a thunk?

I searched briefly and read that it is a "zero argument closure", but that
doesn't clarify much...

-k.

--
Ken Mankoff
LASP://303.492.3264
http://lasp.colorado.edu/~mankoff/