Re: two mysteries

[Ray Andrews <rayandrews@eastlink.ca>]

On 11/06/2015 10:44 AM, Bart Schaefer wrote:
> On Nov 4,  4:38pm, Ray Andrews wrote:
> }
> } You're probably right.  It's very hard to track.  However there's no
> } question that the type changes from integer when it happens, I've used
> } the (t) flag to check.
>
> I suspect further that you're not examining the same variable after the
> error as before.  The divide-by-zero is a fatal error, e.g.:

Yup, it always crashes.
>
>
> Note that the "print" statement was never executed.  If I bring it up
> to top level:
>
> torch% integer x
> torch% x=foo/bar
> zsh: division by zero
> torch% print ${(t)x}
> integer
> torch%
>

But what ended up happening is that the type check reported it as (can't 
recall) no longer integer, and I did the check just before the fatal 
division,  so something had changed it previous to that. Anyway it 
hardly ever happens, and hasn't for quite some time so I can't do any 
more poking at it until it happens again.  But the divisor in that case 
was 'page_hight' which is the terminal hight and (God willing) is never 
zero. But maybe there's a subterfuge there, with some de novo variable, 
as you suggest.  Hard to keep an eye on these things.  With several 
arrays sloshing around, some rogue value could pop up.  But my 
experiments with Sebastian's stuff has been a real education.  I've cut 
it to 2/3 the size while doubling speed and adding a few features and 
fixing a few bugs.  But it's too big for zsh--one misses the rigorous 
control of variables.

Speaking of integers, re: my ranting about the type changing. I had a 
general purpose 'tmp' variable, which I dutifully declared 'integer', 
and absent mindedly tried to use for a string. and zsh vigorously 
denounced the effort, which was much appreciated.  So at least in that 
case it wasn't going to entertain any type change. Didn't I read that 
there's a difference between 'typeset -i' and 'integer'?