Delay

[Keith Hopper]

Greetings and the Compliments of the Season to one and all!

     I regret to say that I have found so many bugs in re-organising the
numeric classes (not IN THEM - but elsewhere) that I have no hope of
getting an updated version out before I go to China.  

     Sorry!  But I have run out of time and will be out of contact until
7/8 Feb.

     If January seems dull without beating me over the head, try thinking
very seriously about $NIL and $IS_NIL.

     The head comment of $IS_NIL says

--        Subtypes of this abstract class must define "is_nil : BOOL".
--   Typically used in typecases.

     The head comment of $NIL says

--        This abstract class is used to indicate that a subtype provides
--   a nil value.

     Unfortunately there are occasions when an object inheriting from thes
and having, therefore, a nil value FAILS TO TEST FOR NIL - even fails to
have it in some pre-conditions.

     I believe that 'nil' should be equivalent to 'undefined' and that
there is therefore lots and lots of broken code all over the library!!!!!

     Think about it!

                Regards to one and all

                        Keith Hopper

-- 
City Desk
Waikato University
[PGP key available if desired]