Expressions

[TheZipCreator]

Expressions
An expression would basically be a mathematical statement that is evaluated at runtime. Currently, we have all the "text codes" which basically do this, but they're a bit inconvenient and unwieldy. Instead, I propose a new variable type called expressions, which make this much more streamlined.
An example expression would be

x+(y*3)

which, under the current system is represented, rather annoyingly, as

%math(%var(x)+(%var(y)*3))

. Looking at both of those, you can probably tell which one is better. This could also replace the %index text code with array subscripting, e.g.

arr[x]

=

%index(arr,%var(x))

. Subscripting matrices (lists of lists) would be done like this:

arr[2][3]

, which is equivalent to

%index(%index(arr,2),3)

.
You could also introduce comparisons and logical operators, and then have an "if expression" added to if var and repeat. So, you could for example, run code if

(i == 1) || (i == 16)

, which can help save space.
You could also add string literals in addition to numbers, so

"Hello, World!"

evaluates to a string. Combining this with subscripting, you could index into a dictionary with

dict["myKey"]

. There's also the issue of how to deal with variables names that have spaces in them. In order to do this, you would use { and }. Inside { and }, typical DF text codes will work. Ex:

{%default i}+5

.

 

[pixlii]

something similar has been suggested (the thread is called %{}) and it has received lots of support. i like this too, it would help make coding SO MUCH simpler.