Not Dead After All
At some point this year I realized I’d almost entirely given up on ever finishing BOOL, and I decided that was okay. The language was always butt ugly, and conflicting design goals combined with a lot of indecision,… it just began to seem pointless, so I decided to stop thinking about it and move on.
But recently I find myself noodling around with the idea of, yes, damn it, finishing it in some form, even if it doesn’t come that close to the original dream (which has proved problematic).
I’d gotten pretty close back in 2016 with Python, so why not?
BOOL Exceptions
When BOOL gets into trouble at run-time it throws an Exception. Such problems include resource issues (like a missing file) or code issues (such as when a Model can’t find an Action to handle a received Message).
There are a some native Exceptions, but user code often extends those for the sake of the application (following a common model used in Java, Python, and many other languages).
Array Redux
Strange how my thoughts turn to BOOL in the early part of even-numbered years. (I wonder if it has something to do with the San Francisco Giants baseball team, although I don’t know why, and I’ve been hitting even-numbered BOOL version years longer than they’ve been winning World Series, plus I hope they don’t win this year.)
But in any event, I found myself pondering the *array type (again)…
Arrays, Final(ly)
I think the final piece of the array puzzle finally fell into place. The issue resolved when I last wrote about arrays — whether all data Models have array capability versus arrays being a distinct data model — still stands.
The final piece involves a slight syntax change and — much more importantly — the full rationale for the array syntax. Not really having one was a bother; it made arrays seem arbitrary and patched on. The rationale brings them more fully into the BOOL fold.
