3 ms·
If assignment is what we are concerned about, we should introduce something like `x := x + 1`.
by actuator 6y ago
If assignment is what we are concerned about, we should introduce something like `x := x + 1`.
- jghn 6y agowhy `:=` and not `<-`? The `<-` in R comes from the APL keyboard, and that glyph is an assignment in APL. It wasn't just some crazy invention from Ross & Robert or even John Chambers.
- actuator 6y agoLeft side assignment is still used to us, from maths and most other programming languages, so it keeps things familar. The `:=` has been in use in other langs like MySQL
- _kst_ 6y agoIs "x<-3" an assignment to x or a comparison of x to -3? The same problem led early C (pre-K&R1) to change its compound assignment operators from "=op" to "op=". In early C, "x = -3" assigned the value -3 to x (as it does now), but "x=-3" meant "x = x - 3" (now written "x-=3").