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  3. Why make it complicated?

Why make it complicated?

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Programmer Humor
programmerhumor
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  • T [email protected]

    I've always wondered where all this 'let' business started

    hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH This user is from outside of this forum
    hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH This user is from outside of this forum
    [email protected]
    wrote on last edited by [email protected]
    #5

    It's commonly used in math to declare variables so I assume programming languages borrowed it from there.

    B chaos@beehaw.orgC 2 Replies Last reply
    27
    • G [email protected]

      You're encoding more information in the typescript one. You're saying it's a string that will get updated.

      M This user is from outside of this forum
      M This user is from outside of this forum
      [email protected]
      wrote on last edited by
      #6

      Yeah, it's explicitly distinct from const a: String which says it won't change, and var a: String, which means this is legacy code that needs fixing.

      psaldorn@lemmy.worldP 1 Reply Last reply
      34
      • G [email protected]

        You're encoding more information in the typescript one. You're saying it's a string that will get updated.

        scoopta@programming.devS This user is from outside of this forum
        scoopta@programming.devS This user is from outside of this forum
        [email protected]
        wrote on last edited by
        #7

        You aren't though. In most languages that use the latter declaration you would prefix the declaration with final or const or the like to specify it won't be updated.

        1 Reply Last reply
        18
        • hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH [email protected]

          It's commonly used in math to declare variables so I assume programming languages borrowed it from there.

          B This user is from outside of this forum
          B This user is from outside of this forum
          [email protected]
          wrote on last edited by
          #8

          BASIC uses (used?) it to declare variables. (I don't know if earlier languages did.)

          Not that that's a reason for other languages to copy it.

          hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH 1 Reply Last reply
          6
          • B [email protected]

            BASIC uses (used?) it to declare variables. (I don't know if earlier languages did.)

            Not that that's a reason for other languages to copy it.

            hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH This user is from outside of this forum
            hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH This user is from outside of this forum
            [email protected]
            wrote on last edited by [email protected]
            #9

            Doesn't Basic use Dim a As String?

            dan@upvote.auD 1 Reply Last reply
            7
            • hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH [email protected]

              Made with KolourPaint and screenshots from Kate (with the GitHub theme).

              _ This user is from outside of this forum
              _ This user is from outside of this forum
              [email protected]
              wrote on last edited by
              #10

              python:

              a: str = 1

              beigeagenda@lemmy.caB H 2 Replies Last reply
              40
              • T [email protected]

                I've always wondered where all this 'let' business started

                N This user is from outside of this forum
                N This user is from outside of this forum
                [email protected]
                wrote on last edited by
                #11

                More than you'd ever want to know: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_expression

                T 1 Reply Last reply
                15
                • M [email protected]

                  Yeah, it's explicitly distinct from const a: String which says it won't change, and var a: String, which means this is legacy code that needs fixing.

                  psaldorn@lemmy.worldP This user is from outside of this forum
                  psaldorn@lemmy.worldP This user is from outside of this forum
                  [email protected]
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #12

                  If there's only two options you only need one keyword

                  H L 2 Replies Last reply
                  9
                  • hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH [email protected]

                    Doesn't Basic use Dim a As String?

                    dan@upvote.auD This user is from outside of this forum
                    dan@upvote.auD This user is from outside of this forum
                    [email protected]
                    wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                    #13

                    Older variants used DIM for arrays and LET for other variables. DIM was originally called that because it was setting the dimensions of the array.

                    In modern BASIC variants, DIM has become a backronym: "declare in memory".

                    T M S 3 Replies Last reply
                    8
                    • hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH [email protected]

                      Made with KolourPaint and screenshots from Kate (with the GitHub theme).

                      dan@upvote.auD This user is from outside of this forum
                      dan@upvote.auD This user is from outside of this forum
                      [email protected]
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #14

                      Can we talk about PHP functions with typehints too?

                      public static function foo(): string {
                      

                      Practically every other language with similar syntax does this instead:

                      public static string foo() {
                      
                      hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH S C 3 Replies Last reply
                      7
                      • dan@upvote.auD [email protected]

                        Can we talk about PHP functions with typehints too?

                        public static function foo(): string {
                        

                        Practically every other language with similar syntax does this instead:

                        public static string foo() {
                        
                        hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH This user is from outside of this forum
                        hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH This user is from outside of this forum
                        [email protected]
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #15

                        TIL PHP has statics.

                        Also, does PHP actually enforce the type declarations? I'd assume it would but knowing PHP...

                        dan@upvote.auD 1 Reply Last reply
                        5
                        • hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH [email protected]

                          TIL PHP has statics.

                          Also, does PHP actually enforce the type declarations? I'd assume it would but knowing PHP...

                          dan@upvote.auD This user is from outside of this forum
                          dan@upvote.auD This user is from outside of this forum
                          [email protected]
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #16

                          It enforces scalar types (string, int, etc) at runtime if you enable strict mode. There's also static analysis tools like PHPStan and Psalm that will flag issues at build time.

                          W 1 Reply Last reply
                          3
                          • dan@upvote.auD [email protected]

                            Older variants used DIM for arrays and LET for other variables. DIM was originally called that because it was setting the dimensions of the array.

                            In modern BASIC variants, DIM has become a backronym: "declare in memory".

                            T This user is from outside of this forum
                            T This user is from outside of this forum
                            [email protected]
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #17

                            TIL Backronyms and cuil BASIC technicalities
                            Much obliged all

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            3
                            • _ [email protected]

                              python:

                              a: str = 1

                              beigeagenda@lemmy.caB This user is from outside of this forum
                              beigeagenda@lemmy.caB This user is from outside of this forum
                              [email protected]
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #18

                              And then assign an int to a string just to mess with the interpreter.

                              S I 2 Replies Last reply
                              20
                              • hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH [email protected]

                                Made with KolourPaint and screenshots from Kate (with the GitHub theme).

                                O This user is from outside of this forum
                                O This user is from outside of this forum
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                                wrote on last edited by
                                #19

                                First time i used let it was to inline variable declaration with assignment . Can’t remember the language.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                1
                                • dan@upvote.auD [email protected]

                                  Older variants used DIM for arrays and LET for other variables. DIM was originally called that because it was setting the dimensions of the array.

                                  In modern BASIC variants, DIM has become a backronym: "declare in memory".

                                  M This user is from outside of this forum
                                  M This user is from outside of this forum
                                  [email protected]
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #20

                                  Even older variants required both a let to declare the variable and a dim to set its size.

                                  I remember a REDIM command, but I really can't remember what basic it's from.

                                  dan@upvote.auD 1 Reply Last reply
                                  1
                                  • hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH [email protected]

                                    Made with KolourPaint and screenshots from Kate (with the GitHub theme).

                                    M This user is from outside of this forum
                                    M This user is from outside of this forum
                                    [email protected]
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #21

                                    Good, now invent a keyword for variables you don't want to declare the type. And now that you have a mix of keywords and identifiers on the same place, you can never update your language again.

                                    Also, make the function declarations not use a keyword too, so you get the full C-style madness of code that changes meaning depending on what libraries you import.

                                    P V S Z 4 Replies Last reply
                                    80
                                    • N [email protected]

                                      More than you'd ever want to know: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_expression

                                      T This user is from outside of this forum
                                      T This user is from outside of this forum
                                      [email protected]
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #22

                                      I doubted you until I got about halfway through this whole page. I concede tho--you are most correct lol
                                      Still a decent read and for that I thank you

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      5
                                      • hiddenlayer555@lemmy.mlH [email protected]

                                        Made with KolourPaint and screenshots from Kate (with the GitHub theme).

                                        tdawg@lemmy.worldT This user is from outside of this forum
                                        tdawg@lemmy.worldT This user is from outside of this forum
                                        [email protected]
                                        wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                                        #23

                                        Because sometimes that let can be replaced by other things like const. Which can be managed statically by the machine and not by my (imperfect) ability to know if it's mutated or not

                                        scoopta@programming.devS L 2 Replies Last reply
                                        22
                                        • beigeagenda@lemmy.caB [email protected]

                                          And then assign an int to a string just to mess with the interpreter.

                                          S This user is from outside of this forum
                                          S This user is from outside of this forum
                                          [email protected]
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #24

                                          only the linter gives a hoot - the interpreter will happily leave that footgun for later

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          43
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