Subj : Re: Strange Rhino NativeString behavior
To   : Matt McShane
From : Brendan Eich
Date : Mon Oct 25 2004 12:14 pm

Matt McShane wrote:

> Thank you, Igor, that certainly explains things. And here I didn't even 
> know ECMAScript had primitives. Although I have to ask, /why/ does a 
> scripting lanugage need primitives?

Lots of scripting languages have primitive types (VBScript, Perl, 
Python, etc.).

But I regard the distinction visible in the language between primitive 
types and their "boxing" object subtypes to be a botch.  I'm to blame. 
My reasons were (a) under orders to make "Java"Script interoperate with, 
and be no more than an "easy to use" adjunct to, Java, I reckoned that 
primitive types would make interoperation smoother; (b) primitives make 
efficient implementation easier.

It's too late to change this for JS1, but it may be possible for JS2 
(ECMA-262 Edition 4).  I (possibly wrongly) recall one of waldemar's 
draft specs eliminating the distinction.

/be

.