Re: understanding code
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg114194] Re: understanding code
- From: Albert Retey <awnl at gmx-topmail.de>
- Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2010 05:31:23 -0500 (EST)
- References: <iclfeu$lbj$1@smc.vnet.net>
Am 25.11.2010 11:57, schrieb Sam Takoy: > Hi, > > The following code: > > i[_] = 0; > i[1]++ > i[1]++ > i[1]++ > i[1]++ > > > return 0 1 2 3 4. I'd like to understand whats going on here. That is, > > What is i? Is it a function? it is a symbol. Depending on what kind of global definitions (substitution rules) you define for i, it will rather behave as a variable or a function or ... > And what is i[1]? Is it a function or a value? Etc... i[1] is an expression, as everything in Mathematica :-). Depending on whether you have defined DownValues for i and what kind of DownValues you have defined it will evaluate to a new expression. If it is part of a more complex expression also the UpValues or SubValues might influence the evaluation. I think the mystery here lies in the ++ which is short for Increment. Increment has the Attribute HoldFirst, which changes the standard evaluation procedure in such a way that Increment sees the unevaluated expression that it gets as the first argument. It is then the code in Increment that obviously is smart enough to handle the i[1] in a way that one most probably wants when using i[1]++ (or what the responsible WRI developer thought one would expect). I think it is not something that is built into the Mathematica language (other than that Increment is a system function) and could be understood by explaining more about what i[1] actually is. hth, albert