Re: Syntax request (coming to terms with false)

[Tom Wrensch <twrensch@...>]

On Fri, 18 Jan 2002, Tom Wrensch wrote:

> Okay, I see your point. I've always thought that allowing both assignment
> and IF-THEN-ELSE statements as expressions was a good thing.

Sorry, I just realized this statement might need some explaination. What I
mean is that one could do this:

    local x,y
    x = (y = 1) + 1
    print(x,y)

And would get:

    2    1

Or this:

    x = if x > MaxValue then x else x + 1 end

And have x incremented if it is less than MaxValue.

This last point would be handy when using an if to decide which return
value to use. For example:

    define factorial(n)
        return (if n==1 then 1 else n*factorial(n-1) end)
    end

Rather than: (put all on one line for better comparison to above)

   define factorial(n)
       if n==1 then return 1 else return n*factorial(n-1) end
   end

This is *not* a proposal. While I would like Lua to evolve this way, I
think the language is doing just fine without me meddling. Be sure that
I'll yell if I think otherwise!

  - Tom Wrensch