Re: [WWdevel] A table of existing macros

[Michael E. G. <ga...@ma...>]

On Jul 6, 2005, at 11:58 AM, Davide P.Cervone wrote:

>> This script is great.
>> I've converted the rochester problem library and haven't found
>> any glitches yet.
>
> I'm glad it is working out for you.
>
>> I think we should add the string compare functions as well.
>
> OK, no problem.  I'll add them to the table of routines to convert.  I 
> notice in PGanswermacros.pl that in addition to setting the filters, 
> they also set a type flag.  Do you want that to be included in the 
> conversion?  That is, should
>
> 	strict_str_cmp("foobar")
>
> produce
>
> 	str_cmp("foobar",filters=>'trim_whitespace')
> or
> 	str_cmp("foobar",filters=>'trim_whitespace', type=>'strict_str_cmp')
>
> I think it should be the former, but I don't know how the type flag 
> might be used later on, if at all.  I suspect it is just informational 
> and can be ignored.
>
I think the former is best as well.  The type sets a flag in the 
AnswerHash to 'strict_str_cmp' (the default is 'str_cmp') in case some 
filter needs to know what kind of answer_evaluator  it is dealing with. 
  So far it's most useful when trying to debug an answer evaluator.  I 
think
we can use 'str_cmp' as the answer evaluator type for all of the 
special cases.
> Also, do you prefer
>
> 	str_cmp("foobar",filters=>'trim_whitespace')
>
> or just
>
> 	str_cmp("foobar",'trim_whitespace')
>
> as the result?
>
As long as we are converting I think I prefer
           str_cmp("foobar", filters=>['trim_whitespace'])

since there will be examples where more than one filter is needed.  The 
default
is actually

'filters'               =>  [qw(trim_whitespace compress_whitespace 
ignore_case)]

str_cmp will accept a variable as if it were an array with one element, 
but as a model
I suggest we use the square brackets.

I do want to use the    filters => .....    however.  I think the model 
of

ans_evaluator( var or arrayRef,   %options)

is something that we can make fairly universal.  At least I'd like to 
try.

>> Here are some examples of str_cmp
>> I found in actual problems:
>>
>> ANS( str_cmp( $ml -> ra_correct_ans ) );  # no change needed here
>
> right
>
>> ANS(std_num_str_cmp($ans, ['N']));         # make sure this is 
>> handled properly
>
> That one should already be handled by the version you have.  It is 
> converted to
>
> 	ANS(num_cmp($ans, strings=>['N']));
>
> which is what you want, right?
>
That's correct.
> I'll send an updated version when I know how to handle the 'type' flag 
> above.
>
> Davide
>
Thanks.

Take care,

Mike