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Softwarové patenty od m - Microsoft has submitted a patent application for the...

Microsoft has submitted a patent application for the IsNot operator.

I strongly suspect that there is prior art.

Following are the complete abstract and the first few claims.

John
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IS NOT OPERATOR

Abstract

A system, method and computer-readable medium support the use of a
single operator that allows a comparison of two variables to determine
if the two variables point to the same location in memory.

What is claimed:

1. A system for determining if two operands point to different locations
in memory, the system comprising: a compiler for receiving source code
and generating executable code from the source code, the source code
comprising an expression comprising an operator associated with a first
operand and a second operand, the expression evaluating to true when the
first operand and the second operand point to different memory locations.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the compiler is a BASIC-derived
programming language compiler.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operator is IsNot.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the compiler comprises a scanner, a
parser, an analyzer and an executable-generator.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the source code comprises at least one
statement, and the statement comprises a keyword representing the
operator, the keyword recognized by the scanner.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the parser receives the scanned source
code from the scanner and determines if the operator is preceded by and
followed by an operand....

Source:

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220040230959%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20040230959&RS=DN/20040230959

Uhh... :-(((