[M3devel] Mixed arithmetic

[Jay K]

> rather than having things
> happen behind the scenes, without the programmer's coding them
 
 
Just a reminder that things happen behind the scenes *all the time*.
It is the norm, not the exception.
Look at what "try" does.
  It is two or three function calls.
Look at the garbage collector. 
Look at layering in various places.
The system is not simple.
This isn't a bad thing necessarily.
Getting things done often requires complexity.
 I haven't finished listening to "growing a language" but Steele makes the point that if your language is too small, it is very limiting in what you can elegantly do or do at all.
 
 
Promoting an INTEGER to a LONGINT is among the simplest things you can do probably.
 
 
It is simpler in fact than adding 1 to an integer, because it cannot fail, whereas adding 1 can.
 
 
 
 - Jay