Re: HoldFirst confusion
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg65562] Re: HoldFirst confusion
- From: dave at dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk
- Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2006 06:14:41 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <e1095n$lkf$1@smc.vnet.net><e12tqd$jj3$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Jon Harrop wrote: > Yaroslav Bulatov wrote: > > The following gives an error > > f = 5; f[a_] = a > > > > Set is HoldFirst, so why does it evaluate it's first argument f[a_]? > > Conversely, why do the attributes of Set and SetDelayed indicate that they > hold their first argument when the kernel evaluates it. > > On a related note, how can you define and use a downvalue that matches > g[1+2] without evaluating the 1+2? > > -- > Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd. > http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/ocaml_for_scientists/chapter1.html Hello, The point about HoldFirst is that it suppresses the automatic evaluation of arguments before a function is called. It is easy to write a function that has attribute HoldFirst but evaluates its argument somewhere in its body - all that is necessary is to pass it on to a deeper function that does not hold the argument! Regarding the definition of g, the following seems to work: SetAttributes[g,HoldFirst] g[1+2]:=Print["xxx"] David Bailey http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk