IS this by design?

[Jon]

Yes by design based on what I thought was a good idea in 2003. Half the ideas were wrong (I'm looking at you case insensitive by default, urgh.) but that's where we ended up.

[argumentum]

On 4/25/2020 at 12:44 AM, MattHiggs said:

when you run the sample at the beginning of the post, it does not return an error.  It actually successfully returns the integer 0

I would add an error return and zero (0) as the value. That way is backward compatible as not become script-braking, and denotes that there was no numerical value in the string.
Other than that, nothing wrong in the trend of thought ( even back in 2003 ), for a language to automate stuff for non-programmers ( like me ).  

2 hours ago, Jon said:

(I'm looking at you case insensitive by default, urgh.)

..I enjoy the case insensitivity by default. I would have had to pay more attention ( that I don't have ) otherwise, so to me is a good call.

Not every one using AutoIt is programmer ( tho I copy'n'paste a lot from those that know what they are doing )  

[Musashi]

4 hours ago, Jon said:

Yes by design based on what I thought was a good idea in 2003. Half the ideas were wrong (I'm looking at you case insensitive by default, urgh.) but that's where we ended up.

Design decisions like this do not cause me any headaches, because it is possible to create practicable workarounds (which has already happened in the past). Everything that the community itself can solve and/or extend by creating new UDFs, usually does not require changes to the AutoIt core.

What really worries me (and probably others as well) are effects as described in this thread : script-becomes-way-slower-after-a-msgbox

The fact, that the same script (under the described circumstances) suddenly runs 8 times slower due to a Windows 10 update, I consider as a real problem, because it leaves the users virtually helpless. I would like to quote a contribution from @jchd :

Quote

600% to 1000% IS a real issue. 6% to 10% would be barely unnoticeable, but this is a really severe impact on effectiveness.
Witness the large number of posts where speed or GUI responsiveness is the key.
I'm nowhere attacking AutoIt and on the contrary would love to see this bottleneck fixed quickly to be proud again of the language

Just knowing that you would at least be willing to take a look at these problems (in such extreme cases) would certainly be a great relief for many people .

Thanks for your attention, and of course for the wonderful AutoIt software as well,

Musashi (an old coder measured by years, but still relatively young as a member in the forum)
P.S. : If anything I have written sounds disrespectful, misleading or even demanding, then it is entirely unintended (English is not my native language).

[Melba23]

Musashi,

i have already pointed Jon at that thread as a matter of urgency. But any action will, of course, depend on the ease of detecting and then remedying the problem.

M23