Re: Autoexec.nt commands

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Harry Binswanger  on
Sun, 26 Aug 2007 22:25:30 -0400


>> You can't say "4=3", but you
>> can say "variable OUI, which formerly equalled 4, now equals
3".

> Thanks. That's what I suspected. But BASIC is maybe hiding this
> from the user, because in it you can say "If A=4 then A = 3."

How does that differ? It doesn't differ!
 if %oui%==4 set oui=3

> I admit that stunned
> me when I first came across it, in 1981, (how can 4 = 3?).

4 does NOT equal 3! "If A=4 then A=3" changes the value of A,
not of 4 or 3.

>> I don't
>> know of any language where you can write to the content
directly

> In BASIC you can.

No! Cannot. 4 equals 4, and always will. Moreover, your
examples earlier all said "A$" and "B$" -- which unequivocally
states that "4" and "3" are labels, not numbers.

If it helps to see this through a use/mention lens, then BASIC
is syntactically ambiguous (requires additional grammar to be
clear), while BATCH is unambiguous (requires no additional
grammar):

     BASIC  BATCH
Use:    A   %A%
Mention:  A    A

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------