Re: Can This be Possible? A bug in Set (=) ?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg110828] Re: Can This be Possible? A bug in Set (=) ?
- From: David Bailey <dave at removedbailey.co.uk>
- Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 03:13:24 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <i11p5t$p2a$1@smc.vnet.net>
On 07/07/10 12:41, James Stein wrote: > The definition of Set (=) is straight forward: "*lhs=rhs* > > evaluates *rhs* and assigns the result to be the value of *lhs*. From then > on, *lhs* is replaced by *rhs* whenever it appears." > > > How then to explain the output of cell 4 below, when cells 1 through 5 are > evaluated in sequence (but not all at once, e.g. do NOT select all five > cells and then press shift-return) ? > > > (* cell 1 *) > foo = 1; > Print [ foo ] > > > (* cell 2 *) > foo = 2; > Print [ foo ] > > > (* cell 3 *) > ClearAll [ evaluate, foo ]; > evaluate[n_Integer] := Module [ {nb, id, sel}, > Print [ "entering evaluate[", n, "], foo=", foo ]; > nb = EvaluationNotebook [ ]; > id = "cell "<> ToString [ n ]; > (* find desired string and select it: *) > sel = NotebookFind [ nb, id ]; > If [ sel == $Failed, Return [ sel ] ]; > (* select entire cell containing string: *) > SelectionMove [ nb, All, Cell ]; > (* set foo by evaluating selected cell: *) > SelectionEvaluate [ nb ]; > (* verify[??] that foo has a new value *) > Print [ "exiting evaluate[", n, "], foo=", foo ]; > Return [ foo ]; > ]; > > > (* cell 4 *) > foo = 0; > evaluate [1]; > foo > evaluate [2]; > foo (* returns 0 *) > > > (* cell 5 *) > foo (* returns 2 *) > > > If you enter the above, not all in a single cell but in five separate > cells, then evaluate each cell in turn, you will discover that consecutive > evaluations of 'foo' (the last two) return different values. > > > How can this be? I was under the impression that Mathematica maintains a > single symbol table. In this table will be an entry for "foo", with various > associated definitions, values, syntax information, attributes, etc. So how > is the following sequence be explained? > > Assign foo the value 2. (penultimate line in cell 4) > > Display foo (value is 0) (last line in cell 4) > > Display foo (value is 2) (last line in cell 5) > > The crucial point here is that SelectionEvaluate *queues* the evaluation to happen when the previous one is complete - it is not analogous to calling a function. Although I have not worked through your example in detail, I am pretty sure this is what is involved here. SelectionEvaluate is a fairly specialised thing to use - do you have a good reason to do so - for example a call to Switch to select among various strings might solve your problem more elegantly (and much more efficiently!). David Bailey http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk