Messages from Usenet group comp.lang.idl-pvwave, compiled by Paulo Penteado
Randall Smith (rsmith@kracko.harvard.edu) makes a good point when he writes: > (Note to RSI: Would it REALLY be that > difficult to make all non-documented routines start with, say, "RSI_", > so that we poor users could easily avoid them? And, while we're at > it, all internal common blocks as well?) In a perfect world, of course, all software programs would be written with the end result clearly in mind. This is how all of *my* programs are written. :^) Cheers, David -- David Fanning, Ph.D. Fanning Software Consulting Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/ Toll-Free IDL Book Orders: 1-888-461-0155
"Mark Hadfield" <m.hadfield@niwa.cri.nz> writes: > Randall Smith <rsmith@kracko.harvard.edu> wrote in message > news:owemabj2db.fsf@kracko.harvard.edu... >> >> >> >> Anyway, it turns out that RSI, in a fit of what can only be described >> as morally degenerate programming, added a new function (strtok) to >> the language, although they _didn't_ see fit to document this (it's >> apparently part of the new string routines stregex, strjoin, strmatch, >> and strsplit that are in IDL 5.3). > It's even more irritatingly trivial than that. They added strtok, then > decided to call it strsplit, but instead of renaming it they wrote strsplit > as a wrapper. Strsplit's code, in its entirety, is: > function strsplit, string, pattern, _ref_extra=extra > if (n_params() eq 1) then return, strtok(string, _extra=extra) $ > else return, strtok(string, pattern, _extra=extra) > end That's because people complained that there was already a long-standing routine in the IDL Astronomy Library called strsplit, so RSI renamed it strtok. However, because they had already advertised that they were adding strsplit, they provided this wrapper. Now people are complaining about strtok. I guess you just can't win. ;^) William Thompson
Randall Smith <rsmith@kracko.harvard.edu> wrote in message news:owemabj2db.fsf@kracko.harvard.edu... > > > > Anyway, it turns out that RSI, in a fit of what can only be described > as morally degenerate programming, added a new function (strtok) to > the language, although they _didn't_ see fit to document this (it's > apparently part of the new string routines stregex, strjoin, strmatch, > and strsplit that are in IDL 5.3). It's even more irritatingly trivial than that. They added strtok, then decided to call it strsplit, but instead of renaming it they wrote strsplit as a wrapper. Strsplit's code, in its entirety, is: function strsplit, string, pattern, _ref_extra=extra if (n_params() eq 1) then return, strtok(string, _extra=extra) $ else return, strtok(string, pattern, _extra=extra) end I hope RSI doesn't sue me for violating copyright by reproducing this. Think of the advantage their competitors could gain by perusing it! P.S. No more frivolous posts for a week, I promise! --- Mark Hadfield m.hadfield@niwa.cri.nz http://katipo.niwa.cri.nz/~hadfield/ National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research PO Box 14-901, Wellington, New Zealand