[Grace-core] Binding symbol and egality symbol

[Andrew P. Black]

As James says, it's the binding of the name to the object that is unchanging, not the object itself.  But that will not be obvious to a novice.  

Let is conventionally used in mathematics for this kind of binding.  I don't object to "const", but const will certainly require explanation.  Since explanation is inevitable, I would rather explain "let" than "const".


On 12 Nov 2010, at 11:44, James Noble wrote:

>> Incidentally, I also agree with the choice of "const" as a keyword. When I saw the "let" I immediately wondered why that was chosen. "const" is immediately clear and expressive, "let" requires explanation and interpretation.
> 
> I don't think there is a good solution here - at least not in English. The problem with "const" - or scala's "val"
> is that, well, the object being bound to the name isn't necessarily constant (or a value)
> const at least has the associations from Pascal.
> 
> I'd originally hoped to follow Self - without any keywords, which is why the symbols were different.
> 
> fixedSlot = anObject
> 
> variableSlot <- anObject
> 
> Hmm: perhaps "fixed"?
> 
> James