> Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 20:32:22 +0100
> From: Adam Dickmeiss <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > Well, I think that "*" as a term is pretty obviously 'any value'.
> > That is identical in semantics to what you wanted, right?
>
> * is masking. For some fields masking does not make sense. Year,
> ranges and such. It would be very special that "1*" does not work or
> "*1" but "*" does.. The semantics for when it works or when it
> doesn't is weird.

Right, exactly, exactly.  So I don't like this hijacking of the
meaning of "*", superficially elegant though it seems.  To quote Rule
Number One of Kernighan and Plauger's still-to-be-improved upon 1978
classic _The Elements of Programming Style_, we should:

        "Say what you mean, simply and directly."

 _/|_    _______________________________________________________________
/o ) \/  Mike Taylor  <[log in to unmask]>  http://www.miketaylor.org.uk
)_v__/\  "Perl is superior to Visual Basic in every way imaginable"
         -- Larry Rosler.

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