Warp wrote:
> Charles C <"nospam a nospam.com"> wrote:
>> Warp wrote:
>>> Charles C <"nospam a nospam.com"> wrote:
>>>>    I wanted to only have to enter a function in SDL once, so I used a 
>>>> string, and figured out the include-file-method as a workaround to 
>>>> convert that string to something plot-able.  I asked on the newsgroups 
>>>> if there was a better way... wishing.
>>>   I wouldn't say that's the best possible usage for an eval() function...
> 
>> I don't understand your meaning.
> 
>   That if the only rational use for eval() is so that you can display a
> function as a string besides evaluating it, that's not reason enough to
> make the parser 10 times more complicated just get an eval() function.

Understood.  Agreed.  It's probably not worth it just for a single 
uncommon situation if it makes the parser 10 times more complicated.* 
But maybe it's not the only rational reason, and that's what the 
discussion is for. I was contributing *a* reason.  I didn't mean for my 
reason as a stand-alone justification for a massive effort.

*I think prioritization can be measured in three dimensions: time 
urgency, importance or benefit, and ease of implementation or cost.

<stands on soap box>
All ideas are worth considering, generally**, no matter how silly,  but 
some can be ruled out earlier than others depending on cost and benefit. 
  Maybe this is one of those earlier ones.  In terms of POV-Ray features 
if enough people want a feature, then at some point it becomes worth 
considering more seriously.   Even if the benefit is low and the cost is 
high, people who believe there is a benefit should still chime in and 
say so or we'll never really know how many people it'll help or what 
different uses it might have.


**If for example you're dealing with an emergency situation I'd say go 
deal with that first.

> 
>> I think it would be great if 
>> strings could be treated almost as if they were include files in memory, 
> 
>   All kinds of things would be nice, but a different story is how easy
> it is to implement.
> 

Very true.  You don't think it would be worth it for this one.  Still, 
it doesn't hurt to talk about it to see what different people think - 
Float an idea and if it's not good, chances are it'll drift away. :-)

My 2c
Charles

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