TIP: 214
Title: Add New Object Introspection Command
Version: $Revision: 1.7 $
Author: Ulrich Sch�bel <[email protected]>
Author: Larry W. Virden <[email protected]>
State: Withdrawn
Type: Project
Vote: Pending
Created: 24-Aug-2004
Post-History:
Keywords: Tcl,info,representation
Tcl-Version: 8.7
Obsoletes: 117
~ Abstract
This TIP proposes the new '''representation''' subcommand to '''info'''
which returns the internal representation of a variable's contents.
~Rationale
Inspired by a posting on news:comp.lang.tcl by Victor Wagner, I
considered a facility to obtain the internal representation of
the value of a variable to be useful.
* It further extends the Tcl introspection commands.
* It offers a method to check the type of a variable without
conversion.
* During the development process it is useful to detect/avoid
shimmering and its negative performance effects.
~Proposed Change
Add the new subcommand '''info representation''' with the following
syntax:
> '''info representation''' ''varName''
It returns the type of the variable ''varName'' or an error, if
* ''varName'' doesn't exist,
* ''varName'' is an array and no index is provided,
* ''varName'' is a scalar variable but an index is provided.
~Implementation
A patch against Tcl8.4.6 is available
[http://sf.net/support/tracker.php?aid=1015338].
~Copyright
This document has been placed in the public domain.