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Re: === and array-refs

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From:
David Green
Date:
August 16, 2006 23:43
Subject:
Re: === and array-refs
Message ID:
a06230902c109ac6353f5@[172.27.1.7]
On 8/16/06, David Green wrote:
>    $a=[1, 2, \@x];
>    $c=[1, 2, \@x];
>    $d=[1, 2, \@y];
>
>  	$a =:= $c;	#false, different variables
>  	$a === $c;	#true, same elements make up $a and $c
>  	$a eqv $c;	#true, same elements therefore same values
>
>  	$a === $d;	#false, \@x and \@y are different refs
>
>So $a, $c, and $d may all have the same *value* (or "snapshot", when 
>evaluated all the way down through nesting and references), i.e. 
>they might be eqv, but only $a and $c are === because they have the 
>same contents [unevaluated contents] and $d doesn't.

OK, here's the counter-argument to my incessant ranting:

In the above example, $a and $c do "look" awfully similar, but 
suppose we replace the anonymous arrays with named ones:

	@X1=(1, 2, \@x);
	@X2=(1, 2, \@x);

	$a=\@X1;
	$b=\@X2;

Now $a clearly does NOT === $b, because @X1 and @X2 are different 
variables (that just coincidentally happen to share the same contents 
at the moment).  Replacing @X1 and @X2 with their anonymous 
equivalents shouldn't suddenly change that.

[Well, anonymous object could have different rules, I suppose, but 
it's no longer "obvious" that they should.  Strings, for example, do 
have special treatment to make different string-objects look the 
same, but strings can't contain other variables, so it's easy to make 
them act like plain values.]

However, it also follows that @X1 !=== @X2.  There's no anonymous 
reference hiding there, so why aren't @X1 and @X2 the same?  (Well, 
they just aren't!)  So... probably what I wanted all along is just to 
compare the contents of an array -- and === just isn't it.  Hm.

	=:= checks for same variable
	=== checks for same object
	eqv checks for same value

except that if the operands aren't objects, === will compare them as 
values (like eqv).  Or rather, if an item is a value (or an object 
that ought to act like a value), just make sure its SKID (which === 
uses) compares in an appropriate value-like way.


-David
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