On 1/13/16 12:20 PM, Linda Walsh wrote: > It doesn't seem very consistent to choose (()) over [] -- why come up with > a special longer operator for arith eval, when [] was already used for > arith evaluation in array indexing?
http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/xrat/V4_xcu_chap02.html#tag_23_02_06_04 "In early proposals, a form $[expression] was used. It was functionally equivalent to the "$(())" of the current text, but objections were lodged that the 1988 KornShell had already implemented "$(())" and there was no compelling reason to invent yet another syntax. Furthermore, the "$[]" syntax had a minor incompatibility involving the patterns in case statements." Remember that Posix doesn't standardize arrays. -- ``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer ``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates Chet Ramey, ITS, CWRU c...@case.edu http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/
