Re: code snippet

[m.hadfield(at)niwa.cri.nz (Mark Hadfield)]

From: "Craig Markwardt" <craigmnet@cow.physics.wisc.edu>
>      choice = (['first','second','third','fourth'])[key]
>      choice = (['first','second','third','fourth'])(key)
>      choice = (['first','second','third','fourth'])([key])
>      choice = (['first','second','third','fourth'])[(key)]
> One of these four expressions has a slightly different meaning than
> the other.  As a trivia test to the newer users of IDL on the
> newsgroup (or the older ones!), can you say which one is different?

I think I qualify as one of the older ones.

IMHO you could (and should) eliminate some of the confusion by declaring
"compile_opt STRICTARR" or "compile_opt IDL2" in your startup file so that
numbers 2 and 3 are illegal.

Now, this

       choice = (['first','second','third','fourth'])[key]

is the same as this

       choice = (['first','second','third','fourth'])[(key)]

and indeed they are both the same as this

      choice = (['first','second','third','fourth'])[((((((key))))))]

because all those parentheses around "key" have no effect.

But this

       choice = (['first','second','third','fourth'])[[key]]

is different from all the others because the index is now a 1-D array, so
the result is also a 1-D array.

But what about these

       choice = (['first','second','third','fourth'])[[[[[[key]]]]]]
       choice = (['first','second','third','fourth'])[([([(key)])])]
       choice = ([['first','second'],['third','fourth']])[[key]]
       choice = ([['first','second','third'],'fourth'])[[key]]

I'll leave them as an exercise (I think they're all valid).

---
Mark Hadfield
m.hadfield@niwa.cri.nz  http://katipo.niwa.cri.nz/~hadfield
National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research



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