[Jprogramming] Bug/Inconsistency among namelist verbs from z locale

[The Geeko]

Raul Miller <rauldmiller <at> gmail.com> writes:

> 
> But x and y are "more special" than m, n, u and v.
If they are, there is no evidence of this other than discussion by the 
watercooler, here. LOL
> 
> If you wanted, you could define:
> 
>    nl_z_=: 4!:1@(] -. -.~)&(i.4)

No, I don't want to re-define language elements for this issue.  In fact, I 
could just avoid using nl altogether and rely on namelist instead.  It has the 
expected (and, correct, so it feels) behavior.

> Note, however, that this would deprive you of the left argument for names.
> 
> For example other words, currently:
> 
>    '~wd' names_z_''
> 
> gives you all the z locale names which do not contain wd and
> 
>    '*wd' names_z_''
> 
> gives you all the z locale name which do contain wd and
> 
>    'wd' names_z_''
I will be deprived of these because the behavior of nl is unpredictable...  
although, to be fair, the last example works with namelist as well.

> 
> Meanwhile, changing the definition of nl_z_ does not eliminate the
> GOTCHAs -- it changes them, but does not eliminate them.
It would eliminate the GOTCHAS that -- despite sharing a mnemonic with namelist 
-- nl is just a misbehaving cousin.  LOL

nl is shorter to type... offers a couple of features that namelist is missing... 
but doesn't play nicely with others.