Merge Equal Fields when Molding/Printing Objects

One of the justifications for why ~unset~ was changed to ~ was to reduce the amount of "noise" when printing things like FRAME!s, and so the specialized fields could be seen easier.

...but why not:

>> make frame! :append
== make frame! [
    series: 
    value:
    part:
    only:
    dup:
    line: ~
]

When people write things in the second way, I tend to convert them to the first way.

With the second way: I make one change down the line--let's say to make part: 3--I don't like the fact that now I have to go up and (at minimum) change the value: ~, otherwise both series and value will get changed to 3 as well.

But some heuristics in the console for collapsing empty fields together might be useful, especially if it can put them on the same line. If you can keep things from scrolling off the screen, that is helpful.

I think the main area of focus for better output--though--should be in the browser GUI. Innovating in text-only consoles is a fun domain, but low on the priority list.

2 Likes

Or if you need to make a change to part then you replace it before or after the assignment of all the others.