Thing -- the class of all things

Description

Everything in Macaulay 2 is a thing. This includes numbers, strings, and lists. More complicated things such as polynomials, groups, rings, and chain complexes are implemented as hash tables. See Type for information about what types of things there are.

Types of thing :

BasicList -- the class of all basic lists
Boolean -- the class of Boolean values
CompiledFunctionBody -- the class of all compiled function bodies
Database -- the class of all database files
Dictionary -- the class of all dictionaries
File -- the class of all files
Function -- the class of all functions
FunctionBody -- the class of function bodies
HashTable -- the class of all hash tables
Net -- the class of all nets and strings
NetFile -- the class of all net files
Nothing -- the empty class
Number -- the class of all numbers
Pseudocode -- the class of pseudocodes
Symbol -- the class of all symbols
Thing -- the class of all things

Functions and methods returning a thing :

BasicList # ZZ -- get element from list
Function Thing -- function application
HashTable # Thing -- get value from hash table
String # ZZ -- get character from string

Methods that use a thing :

Thing * List, see * -- a binary operator, usually used for multiplication
Thing =!= Thing, see =!= -- strict inequality
Thing === Thing, see === -- strict equality
Thing => Thing, see => -- produce an Option
accumulate(Function,Thing,VisibleList)
accumulate(VisibleList,Thing,Function)
addHook(HashTable,Thing,Function) -- add a hook function to an object for later processing
append(BasicList,Thing) -- append an element to a list
between(Thing,VisibleList) -- insert something between elements of a list
Command Thing, see Command -- the class of all commands
describe(Thing), see describe -- real description
dictionary(Thing), see dictionary -- determine the dictionary to which a symbol belongs
<< Thing, see File << Thing -- print to a file
File << Thing -- print to a file
List << Thing, see File << Thing -- print to a file
Nothing << Thing, see File << Thing -- print to a file
String << Thing, see File << Thing -- print to a file
fold(Function,Thing,VisibleList)
fold(VisibleList,Thing,Function)
Function _ Thing -- missing documentation
HashTable #? Thing -- check for value in hash table
instance(Thing,Type), see instance -- whether something has a certain type
isFreeModule(Thing), see isFreeModule -- whether something is a free module
isIdeal(Thing), see isIdeal -- whether something is an ideal
isModule(Thing), see isModule -- whether something is a module
isMonomialIdeal(Thing), see isMonomialIdeal -- whether something is a monomial ideal
isPolynomialRing(Thing), see isPolynomialRing -- whether someting is a polynomial ring
isQuotientModule(Thing), see isQuotientModule -- whether something is evidently a quotient of a free module
isRing(Thing), see isRing -- whether something is a ring
isSubmodule(Thing), see isSubmodule -- whether a module is evidently a submodule of a free module
List / Thing -- vector division
makeDocumentTag(Thing), see makeDocumentTag -- convert a documentation key to a documentation tag
member(Thing,Set), see member -- test membership in a list or set
member(Thing,VisibleList), see member -- test membership in a list or set
methods(Thing), see methods -- list methods
mutable(Thing), see mutable -- whether something may be modified
new MarkUpType from Thing -- missing documentation
package(Thing), see package -- get containing package
peek'(ZZ,Thing) -- examine contents of an object
prepend(Thing,BasicList) -- add an element to the beginning of a list
remove(HashTable,Thing), see remove -- remove an entry from a hash table
removeHook(HashTable,Thing,Function) -- remove a hook function from an object
runHooks(HashTable,Thing,Thing) -- run the hook functions stored in an object
ScriptedFunctor ^ Thing -- missing documentation
ScriptedFunctor _ Thing -- missing documentation
ScriptedFunctor Thing -- missing documentation
SelfInitializingType Thing -- missing documentation
Set #? Thing -- test set membership
substitute(Divide,Thing), see substitute -- substituting values for variables
substitute(Power,Thing), see substitute -- substituting values for variables
substitute(Product,Thing), see substitute -- substituting values for variables
substitute(Sum,Thing), see substitute -- substituting values for variables
Symbol _ Thing -- missing documentation
Symbol _ Thing = Thing -- assignment to an indexed variable
Tally _ Thing -- get a count from a tally
Command \\ Thing, see Thing // Function -- apply a function
Function \\ Thing, see Thing // Function -- apply a function
SelfInitializingType \\ Thing, see Thing // Function -- apply a function
Thing // Command, see Thing // Function -- apply a function
Thing // Function -- apply a function
Thing // SelfInitializingType, see Thing // Function -- apply a function
new TO from Thing, see TO -- hypertext documentation link
new TOH from Thing, see TOH -- hypertext documentation link followed by a headline
tryHooks(HashTable,Thing,Thing) -- try the hook functions stored in an object
ultimate(Function,Thing), see ultimate -- ultimate value for an iteration
undocumented(Thing), see undocumented
WrapperType Thing -- missing documentation
ZZ : Thing -- repeat an item

For the programmer

The object Thing is a type, with no ancestor class..