MJB@cup.portal.com (Martin J Brown-Jr) (01/12/90)
I am using Digitalk's Smalltalk V/286 to learn smalltalk. I'm am somewhat con
fused by the following:
Two of the three smalltalk texts that I have use the following format when
dealing with single quoted strings:
Prompter prompt: `Name: ' default: `'
** note that the open quote is an ascii xx60, while the end quote is xx2C *
Another smalltalk text uses the following format in the same situation:
Prompter prompt: 'Name: ' default: ''
** note that the open and end quotes are both ascii xx2C
(The V/286 manual uses the first format, but V/286 only works if you use the
second format.)
Is there a smalltalk standard? And if I need/want to change how V/286 works,
where (class?) would I go to change it?
Thanx for any assistance!
- MJB -johnson@p.cs.uiuc.edu (01/15/90)
Smalltalk-80 uses the same character to begin and end strings. Thus, 'stuff' and not `stuff'. Page 20 of "Smalltalk-80: The Language" makes it pretty clear that this is part of the standard. I am not a big Smalltalk-V user, but Digitalk tries hard to be compatible with Smalltalk-80 at the language level, so I think the use of different characters to begin and end strings is just bad typography in the manuals.
moss@takahe.cs.umass.edu (Eliot &) (01/16/90)
I agree with Ralph Johnson: the use of ` instead of ' was probably done by a misguided copy editor (it *is* the standard for English, but we are talking about a programming language here :-) Cheers! E -- J. Eliot B. Moss, Assistant Professor Department of Computer and Information Science Lederle Graduate Research Center University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003 (413) 545-4206; Moss@cs.umass.edu
MJB@cup.portal.com (Martin J Brown-Jr) (01/19/90)
Thanx to all of you who answered, on the net and by email, my question on the
smalltalk 'string' standard.
- MJB -