[Aldor-l] ->* and :*

[Christian Aistleitner]

Hi Ralf,

On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:44:34 +0200, Ralf Hemmecke <ralf at hemmecke.de> wrote:

> Is '->*' somehow connected to ':*'. How?

I'd argue that "no", there is no connection between ":*" and "->*".
But I am also just guessing.

> The AUG mentions for 'x:*X := ...' that :* stands for specifying the
> type, but not autoimporting it. Is there some extensive documentation
> for ->* ?

Not that I know of. However, "->*" is described as PackedMap. In contrast  
to a normal Map ("->"), a PackedMap accepts its parameters and returns its  
values in a type-specific format instead of a uniform data format.
But I am sure you came across that.

I've never seen it being used, and I never played around with it. But I  
guess there is a closer connection to {get,set,new}PackedArray than to  
":*".

Kind regards,
Christian