Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!weretis.net!feeder4.news.weretis.net!nuzba.szn.dk!pnx.dk!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Robert Klemme Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer Subject: Re: arrays and variables Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2013 17:50:41 +0200 Lines: 74 Message-ID: References: <19un43xj77bua.vw45l4e2wshi.dlg@40tude.net> <1uednTu2Z5ByUcPMnZ2dnUVZ8i-dnZ2d@bt.com> <78a7719f-3519-48a5-b36d-d8b7ddcafe7c@googlegroups.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net LEbDUbK2y1LujgkccSrP1QQ+O3Pgl6Q7C9kB6ULdvDWi+N1/E= Cancel-Lock: sha1:7FId4Xesza7QEPz7w2gx8b+qLZc= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; WOW64; rv:17.0) Gecko/20130328 Thunderbird/17.0.5 In-Reply-To: X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 130406-0, 06.04.2013), Outbound message X-Antivirus-Status: Clean Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.java.programmer:23349 On 06.04.2013 17:25, lipska the kat wrote: > On 06/04/13 14:20, Robert Klemme wrote: >> On 06.04.2013 10:11, lipska the kat wrote: >>> On 05/04/13 21:33, Lew wrote: >>>> lipska the kat wrote: >>>>> Stefan Ram wrote: >>>>>> Arved Sandstrom writes: >>>>>>> Stefan Ram wrote: >>>>>>>> Arved Sandstrom writes: >>>>> >>>>> [snip] >>>>> >>>>>> What is C? We have pointers in Java, see the JLS. >>>>> >>>>> Do we? I never knew that >>>> >>>> It's in the JLS, 4.3.1. >>>> "An object is a class instance or an array. >>>> >>>> "The reference values (often just references) are pointers to these >>>> objects, >>>> and a special null reference, which refers to no object." >>> >>> This is a rhetorical usage of the word pointer and says nothing about >>> the underlying mechanism used to implement references. >> >> Why "rhetorical"? > > The Java Language Specification is just that, a specification. > Constraining an implementation to use *pointers is not within the > purview of the specification, this is why I suggested that the usage is > rhetorical. I don't think it is constraining implementations - it merely uses "pointer" with a different meaning (suggestion: "something that points to something") than the one you have in mind and which is used commonly in CS. >> and why? There is nothing weaselish about quoting the JLS. > > I'd be very interested to see the line in the spec that says > > 'It [Java] only has pointers for reference types' > > Show me that and watch me eat my hat. Can we skip the "show" part and directly go to "eat my hat"? ;-) >> I think most people in software engineering actually use the terms the >> way you have presented them here which is also reflected in the article >> about pointers on wikipedia. That does not preclude other usages in >> specific context so the heads up of Lew is actually in order to keep us >> alert and use terms consciously. > > Of course it is, how could I possibly imagine that it could ever be > otherwise. See? ;-) > Although ... actually, forget it, it really isn't that important, the > sun is shining and I have seeds to sow, the lawn to cut and frogs to > watch in the pond. I'll send our cat over. Here it's still uncomfortably cold (although getting better) and she prefers to stay in an demonstrate her bad temper... Cheers robert -- remember.guy do |as, often| as.you_can - without end http://blog.rubybestpractices.com/