[Scilab-users] Confusion about types (typeof vs. Variabe Browser)

[Stéphane Mottelet]

Hello,

The name "constant" has been kept to ensure backwards compatibililty. 
But frankly, sometimes legacy really sucks !

To me, "constant" should be replaced everywhere by "double" to suppress 
this confusion. The argument that it would break some toolboxes does not 
hold : we already will have to recompile almost all binary gateways for 
the next release of Scilab. I don't understand why toolboxes authors 
would not be able to release a new version by just doing an easy 
find/replace in their codes.

S.

Le 04/12/2019 à 02:07, Federico Miyara a écrit :
>
> Dear all,
>
> Regarding the question I've sent a few days earlier (see below), I 
> think the Variable Browser in some cases may be creating confusion 
> between variable types and number formats
>
> For instance,
>
> a = 1.22
>
> creates a variable of type "constant", while its format is "double".
>
> Regards,
>
> Federico Miyara
>
>
> On 29/11/2019 02:57, Federico Miyara wrote:
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I'm trying to elucidate some details regarding types. The most basic 
>> type, corresponding to real or complex decimal numbers (or vectors, 
>> matrices and hypermatrices with this kind of components) is called 
>> "constant" by the function typeof (and so listed in the documentation).
>>
>> However, the variable browser lists them as "double".
>>
>> This is somewhat confusing. It seems that "double" refers to the way 
>> each individual component is encoded while constant may refer to the 
>> fact that any array containing doubles is o type constant.
>>
>> In the case of integers, for instance we have int64 as reported by 
>> typeof, but in the Variable Browser it is listed a bit more in full 
>> as "Integer 64". While this is also slightly inconsistent, it is not 
>> to complain very much about.
>>
>> In the case of rationals, typeof returns "rational" while the 
>> Variable Browser callsit "r (Tlist)"
>>
>> Cell array type is called "ce" by typeof but "Cell" in the Variabe 
>> Browser
>>
>> User-defined types in tlists and mlists are designed by the 
>> user-defined type name by typeof, while the variable browser adds 
>> "(Tlist)" or "(Mlist)"
>>
>> Functions, libraries and impliit lists such as $ are not listed in 
>> the variable bowser but are correctly reported by typeof
>>
>> I wonder whether there is a reason for all this or it is actually an 
>> issue that could be fixed in a future versions.
>>
>> Thank you
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Federico Miyara
>>
>
>
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-- 
Stéphane Mottelet
Ingénieur de recherche
EA 4297 Transformations Intégrées de la Matière Renouvelable
Département Génie des Procédés Industriels
Sorbonne Universités - Université de Technologie de Compiègne
CS 60319, 60203 Compiègne cedex
Tel : +33(0)344234688
http://www.utc.fr/~mottelet

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