------------Original Message: Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 07:51:58 -0700 From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> Subject: Re: HP "calculators" (was Re: World's first computer on ebay!) I said "X=Y=7" in GWBASIC changes both X and Y the same way regardless of their initial values. LET X=Y=7 changes them a different way, regardless of their initial values. If there's a conditional operator in either of those statements, I can't find it. Yes, it's true that BASIC doesn't differentiate lexically between the assignment operator and equality test, but that seems to be unrelated to the behavior of the two statements I gave. In fact, I don't know what the operation performed by GWBASIC is in "X=Y=7". Cheers, Chuck ----------Reply: We can't be talking about the same thing here; I program a fair bit in BASIC and use this technique quite often; (Y=7) is equivalent to 0 or -1 (0000H or FFFFH, depending on Y, when it is in a place where a numeric variable is expected. So if I read your examples correctly, when Y is 7 then (Y=7) is -1; in essence TRUE has a value of -1 and FALSE has a value of 0. The conditional operator is implied, which is why it's useful when an explicit IF/THEN is awkward; If Y=7 then (Y=7) is -1 else (Y=7) is 0. Y never changes. No? Just try: Y=7:PRINT Y=7: Y=6: PRINT Y=7 or: Y=7:PRINT Y>6:Y=6:PRINT Y>6 or: A$="X":PRINT A$="X":A$="Y":PRINT A$="X" or, to make it even more obscure: INPUT "Guess a letter":A$:PRINT mid$("WRONGRIGHT",-(A$="Z")*5+1,5) Admittedly, it's counterintuitive; X=Y=7 sure looks like a multiple assignment. m