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Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 03:58:33 +0000
From: MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com>
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Subject: Re: Origin of 'self'
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On 2014-03-05 03:45, Rustom Mody wrote:
> On Tuesday, March 4, 2014 6:17:09 PM UTC+5:30, MRAB wrote:
>> On 2014-03-04 02:09, Dennis Lee Bieber wrote:
>> > On Sun, 2 Mar 2014 22:16:31 -0800 (PST), Westley Martínez declaimed:
>
>> >> I understand that in an object method the first argument in the
>> >> object itself, called self.  However, it doesn't have to be called
>> >> self, and can be called anything.  So my question is why is it
>> >> called self and not this like from C++ and Java.  It's kind of a
>> >> silly question, but one that I'm curious about nevertheless.
>> > It didn't want to be egotistical (as I recall, M$ VB uses "me")
>> So does AppleScript.
>
>> <OT>
>
>> In AppleScript a script can refer to the title of a window as "title of
>> window" or "window's title", and it can refer to the title of its own
>> window as "title of window of me" or "me's window's title". Consistent,
>> yes, but bad English.
>
>> That's why I prefer a programming language not to be too much like a
>> natural language. :-)
>
>> </OT>
>
> <Continue-OT>
>
> There could be other conclusions.  Such as that English could learn
> from AppleScript to not make bogus distinctions between me and my. Or
> latin in which case is sufficiently explicit that word-order does not matter
>
Latin's not that explicit: the endings aren't unique within a
declension.

> <Even-more-OT>
> Reminds me of
> "How do we know whether smoking causes cancer or cancer causes smoking?"
> </Even-more-OT>
>
> </Continue-OT>
>