in reply to Re^17: If you believe in Lists in Scalar Context, Clap your Hands
in thread If you believe in Lists in Scalar Context, Clap your Hands

mr_mischief likes to think in a very right-to-left way when it comes to assignment operator. In his mental model,

  1. The list assignment operator returns two values to the list on its LHS, a list to assign and its scalar result.
  2. The LHS list takes the list returned by the list assignment and performs the assignment.
  3. The LHS list returns the scalar returned by the list assignment.

He realizes the implementation differs.

  • Comment on Re^18: If you believe in Lists in Scalar Context, Clap your Hands

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Re^19: If you believe in Lists in Scalar Context, Clap your Hands
by mr_mischief (Monsignor) on Oct 28, 2008 at 23:12 UTC
    Other than calling it specifically my model, I can fully endorse this post. I don't prefer one model over the other, as I still don't see a definite general-case benefit to one or the other. I just like to defend the model that people criticize if I see merit in it. I'll also criticize a model others endorse if I see flaws. I'll even defend the strong points and criticize the weak points of the same model.

    In specific cases, I think this one helps some people. In other specific cases, I think the model ysth, tye, JavaFan, merlyn, and yourself use is more helpful (and more precise with relation to the actual implementation).

    Mostly I like for people to be able to choose which one works for them. I've avoided disclosing my particular mental model up to this point because I don't think that how I personally think about it when I program is that relevant to whether or not a particular model is useful to others.

    If people really must know...

    <Reveal this spoiler or all in this thread>

    You do recognize and understand the workings of the model as I understand it, though, and I think it admirable you went through the trouble to do so.

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