Dear Jurgen,
An additional language feature which I would like is to have more explicit typing. Instead of writing
decl model1;
decl parameterNames;
I would prefer
Model model1;
string [] parameterNames;
as in Java. I have accustomed myself to write
decl /* Model */ model1;
decl /* string [] */ parameterNames;
to make clear for myself what is the type of a variable. This is especially important for function arguments: does a function setExplanatoryVariables expect a matrix, an array of matrices, an array of variable names, or ... as argument. Interfaces need to be clear.
Regards,
Jaap
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Jacob J. de Vries
Department of Spatial Economics
Free University
De Boelelaan 1105
NL 1081 HV Amsterdam
Phone +31 20 59 86142
Fax +31 20 59 86004
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http://staff.feweb.vu.nl/jjvries/
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: The ox-users list is aimed at all Ox users
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Jurgen Doornik
> Sent: Tuesday, 16 November, 2004 12:46
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: public member variables?
>
>
> Indeed, Max is right that my primary objective has been to keep it
> simple. Initially, there was quite a lot of scepticism about the
> usefulness of object-oriented programming for econometrics and
> statistics (including myself!). I think that has changed now with the
> spread of Ox packages.
>
> The advantage of the current approach is that it can be undderstood in
> about a day or so, while I'm still occasionally trying to understand
> some new (to me) C++ features, after many years of using it.
>
> Having said that, Ox has to be flexible enough to program effectively,
> so perhaps it is time to consider adding some features to the
> language.
> Further suggestions and ideas on this are very welcome. For example, I
> would consider the public and protected keywords useful, but have a
> strong dislike of private (which quite often turns out to be a design
> error).
>
> Jurgen.
>
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