[Info-vax] DCL's flaws (both scripting and UI)

[David Froble]

Jan-Erik Soderholm wrote:
> David Froble skrev den 2015-01-20 04:06:
> 
>> Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> 
>>>
>>> Key-value stores.  These are a form of an in-memory indexed file. 
>>> Specify
>>> the key, get the value.   BASIC doesn't have anything similar built into
>>> the language, though some folks do use RMS indexed files here.
>>
>> Oh, you mean like a doubly dimensioned array, or other structure, where I
>> can load up some key-value pairs, then invoke a routine or code to take a
>> key value and return the associated value?
>>
>> Different name for the same old things that have been done for many 
>> years.
>> Perhaps refined, or specialized, but same thing as your description.  
>> Maybe
>> for the old way someone actually has to know how to design and implement
>> code ....
>>
> 
> A built-in standard data type in Python, "Dictionaries".
> 
> https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/datastructures.html#dictionaries
> 
> No routines to write, just use it...
> 
> Jan-Erik.
> 
> 

Not quite that simple.  You still need to load the data.  You still need 
to request a pair (or pairs) match.  If I was to perform such, I think 
the amount of code would be similar.

But consider, anything "built in" was written by someone, and without 
it, the starting points would be the same.  To compare apples with 
apples, consider that in my environment the "tool" also exists.  Now the 
usage of the tool becomes very similar.

However, for the converse, let's say the specific tool does not exist in 
Python.  Again, the starting point is equal.  How hard will it be to 
implement the desired action?  I cannot say, as I do not have expertise 
with Python.  Perhaps a few such examples might show where advantage lies?