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

[Federico Miyara]

Stéphane,

Thank you.

In your opinion, when format is clearly defined and widely agreed upon, 
such as double, type name should be the same as format name? Or in this 
case you propose such name which by chance coincides with the name of 
the format?

As you may guess I have some conflict about this--not sure of the 
difference between type, type of the scalar version and storage format.

Regards,

Federico Miyara


On 04/12/2019 09:30, Stéphane Mottelet wrote:
>
> 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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