Re: Disappearing variables
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg13826] Re: Disappearing variables
- From: Julian Stoev <stoev at usa.net>
- Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1998 04:41:06 -0400
- Organization: Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
- References: <6rr9u0$15b@smc.vnet.net> <6s5khr$c62@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
On 28 Aug 1998, Allan Hayes wrote: |nobody at News.Dal.Ca wrote in message <6rr9u0$15b at smc.vnet.net>... |>I want to to define a variable inside a function, as follows: f:=x=123; |>Whenever I run f, x should be given the value of 123, and if x doesn't |>exist, it should be created. However: |> |>In[1]:= f:=x=123; |>In[2]:=f |>Out[2]:=123 |>In[3]:=x |>Out[3]:=123 ** x exists |>In[4]:=Remove[x]; |>In[5]:=f |>Out[5]:=123 ** f seems to work |>In[6]:=x |>Out[6]:=x ** x doesn't exist anymore, even though f worked |> |>It seems like x is created when I initially define f, whereas since f is |>SetDelayed, x should be created when I run f. |>Does anyone know why x is not created when I run f? |> |>Vilis Nams |> | |Vilis, |Let's look at the assignments that are stored: | |f:=x=123; | |?f | |"Global`f" |f := x = 123 | |Remove[x] | |?f | |"Global`f" |f := Removed["x"] = 123 | |?x |Information::notfound: Symbol x not found." | |So, f still evaluates with output 123 but it does not restore the |assignment x=123 nor recreate x; and i is it allowed to assign |Remove["x]" = 123. | |Removed["x"] | |Removed["x"] Let me add something. If you try: In[1]:= SetDelayed[f,Set[x,123]] In[2]:= x Out[2]= x In[3]:= f Out[3]= 123 In[4]:= x Out[4]= 123 , you will find, that x has a value only after you check for f and this is logical, because when you check for f, it executes Set[x,123]. The only problems I see are, that Removed[] is not mentioned in the Mathematica book and in the help. The info I found about it is In[5]:= ?Removed "Removed[string] is printed to indicate a symbol that has been removed." Also it is not very clear how x got defined somehow if SetDelayed has attributes HoldAll. Even when I tried In[1]:= SetDelayed[f,HoldComplete[Set[x,123]]] I got In[2]:= x Out[2]= x --Julian Stoev