On 11/8/2012 10:53 AM, David Given wrote:
> It's much easier to think of
this as *all* values being passed by
> reference... it's just that numbers, like strings, are
immutable and
> cannot be changed.
We may need a beginner to test your theory on, but I am extremely
skeptical.
People new to programming have a hard time thinking in abstractions.
Period. Talking about a=a+1 creating a "new value" and assigning a
reference to "a" rather than adding one to "a" is a level of
abstraction that I would almost guarantee make a beginner's eyes
glaze over. The more concrete you can make a concept, the easier it
is to grasp.
As an experienced Lua developer (and programmer in general), I
actually find the concept quite elegant. This thread is about
introducing beginners, though, and to my mind that includes
beginning programmers. And you want to keep the concepts as simple
as possible as you're introducing any language to a complete
beginner.
AND...if I'm right and it's easier for a beginner to think in terms
of variables holding values, then you end up with the
value/reference distinction, where some "values" (e.g., tables) are
actually references to a single table, and not distinct copies of
the table.
Tim
