Why isn't the type of block not normally in Snap!

Feature Requests Snap! Feature Requests
1

So I was playing around in Snap! dev mode (because I felt like it), and I saw this block:
untitled script pic(5)

This looks so useful, but its not in there by default (even though it works without dev mode). Can someone like... add it in? I remember when I made a giant bock for this person with just using the untitled script pic(6) block, which was very long and annoying to make.

2

I have a few guesses for why this isn't included:

  1. Because say, if you input the number "5", you might be thinking of it as a text. To someone new, it might be confusing to debug.
  2. I can't think of a reason to use it - all my use cases result in something like < (type of (thing)) = [number] @<:> > . I'll be glad to here what you think!
  3. Translation translation translation. This is, I think, the most likely reason. The "type of [ ]" block always reports in English (it has to to avoid breaking programs when switching languages). Ever notice how the ([type V] of block (()@>) always reports a number (which corresponds to the block shapes)? This is because of translation.
3

One use I can think using it is making sure all values in a list are the same type (they can be any type but every one of them have to be same) like a list of 1, 2 and 3, a list of "foo", "bar", and "baz", etc, etc. I know I was trying to check the type for a reason when I used it. Otherwise I take back that useful statement.

4

Ah, good point: <(type of (a)) = (type of (b)) @<:> > is a lot easier than <<<is (a) a [number V]?> and <is (b) a [number V]?>>or <<is (a) a [text V]?> and <is (b) a [text V]?>> or <... :: rgb(255,0,0)> @<:>. However, that still poses the issue of:

Oh, I just realized that the "is a text?" block reports false for a number. I take it back.

5

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.