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Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2024 16:25:21 -0400
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On 8/22/2024 1:39 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2024-08-21, Dave Froble <davef@tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>> On 8/20/2024 1:34 PM, bill wrote:
>>> On 8/20/2024 8:36 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>>> In languages with dynamic associative arrays (such as PHP), I simulate
>>>> this by returning an associative array from a function call with both
>>>> status and value fields. Makes coding _so_ much cleaner and robust.
>>>
>>> And probably much harder to understand in anything but the most
>>> trivial usage.
>>
>> Would that not be rather clear with adequate comments about what is being done?
> 
> Look at the example Arne posted. Very clean and very easy to understand
> without having to use comments (and I am actually a fan of the liberal
> use of comments. :-) ).

The same example in older VB.NET:

Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic

Namespace MR
     Public Class Program
         Public Shared Function FourOps(a As Double, b As Double) As 
IDictionary(Of String, Double)
             Dim res As New Dictionary(Of String, Double)()
             res("plus") = a + b
             res("minus") = a - b
             res("multiply") = a * b
             res("divide") = a / b
             Return res
         End Function
         Public Shared Sub Main(args As String())
             Dim a As Double = 3.0
             Dim b As Double = 2.0
             Dim res As IDictionary(Of String, Double) = FourOps(a, b)
             Console.WriteLine("{0} + {1} = {2}", a, b, res("plus"))
             Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1} = {2}", a, b, res("minus"))
             Console.WriteLine("{0} * {1} = {2}", a, b, res("multiply"))
             Console.WriteLine("{0} / {1} = {2}", a, b, res("divide"))
             Console.ReadKey()
         End Sub
     End Class
End Namespace

In newer VB.NET it looks like:

Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic

Namespace MR
     Public Class Program
         Public Shared Function FourOps(a As Double, b As Double) As 
IDictionary(Of String, Double)
             Return New Dictionary(Of String, Double)() From { _
                 {"plus", a + b}, _
                 {"minus", a - b}, _
                 {"multiply", a * b}, _
                 {"divide", a / b} _
             }
         End Function
         Public Shared Sub Main(args As String())
             Dim a As Double = 3.0
             Dim b As Double = 2.0
             Dim res As IDictionary(Of String, Double) = FourOps(a, b)
             Console.WriteLine("{0} + {1} = {2}", a, b, res("plus"))
             Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1} = {2}", a, b, res("minus"))
             Console.WriteLine("{0} * {1} = {2}", a, b, res("multiply"))
             Console.WriteLine("{0} / {1} = {2}", a, b, res("divide"))
             Console.ReadKey()
         End Sub
     End Class
End Namespace

But I suspect that David as a Basic connoisseur consider that dictionary
initializer syntax copied directly from C# an abomination - curly
brackets is not real Basic.

Arne