Apart from the fact that =:=
prevents unwanted integer casts:
1> 1=:=1.0.
false
What is the advantage of using =:=
with terms in general?
Better performance?
Apart from the fact that =:=
prevents unwanted integer casts:
1> 1=:=1.0.
false
What is the advantage of using =:=
with terms in general?
Better performance?
The biggest advantage of =:=
is it returns true only for same terms in the same way as pattern matching. So you can be sure they are same. 1
and 1
are same terms and 1
with 1.0
are not. That's it. If you write function like foo(A, B) when A =:= B -> A.
and bar(A, B) when A =:= B -> B.
they will behave same. If you use ==
it will not be same functions. It simply prevents surprise. For example, if you make some key/value storage it would not be right if you store value with key 1
and then get this value if ask for key 1.0
. And yes, there is a little bit performance penalty with ==
but least astonishment is far more important. Just use =:=
and =/=
when it is your intent to compare same terms. Use ==
and /=
only if it is your intent to compare numbers.
Eshell V5.9.3.1 (abort with ^G)
1> 1.0==1.
true
2> 1.0=:=1.
false
3>
see it? when go with"==" it will tranfer the two element into the same format to match. when "=:=" do not ,when the two element is same-type and same-value will be returning true.