sub_atom_* is mostly for when you are needidng to created and decompose new global identifiers
2:49 PM same as with  atom_concat/3
2:51 PM teh reason to use use global identifiers (atoms) is that they can be hashed in the prolog database
2:51 PM well they hash for free
2:52 PM the hashcode gets created at the time of concatenation
2:53 PM (because it gets found/created at that moment)
2:54 PM like i'll atom_concat('Player',2,PlayerID).
2:55 PM ⇐ pie_ quit (~pie_@unaffiliated/pie-/x-0787662) Ping timeout: 272 seconds
2:57 PM
<stoopkid> so you say that stuff like "atom_concat('Player',2,PlayerID)" is now generally frowned upon?
3:01 PM
<dmiles> ... sorry, no, that isnt frowned upon.. but would would be is what people youed to do like ..
3:02 PM atom_concat('Player you ID number was ',2,PrintMe)
3:03 PM atom_concat('Player',2,PlayerID) finds or creates 'Player2' in the atom table.. which will be used to access the prolog database
3:03 PM
<stoopkid> so it's not frowned upon if you're just generating an internally-used identifier, but is frowned upon if you're planning to use it in I/O or whatever?
3:03 PM
<dmiles> ... correct
3:04 PM
<stoopkid> so in general if i'm outputting it as text, use a string?
3:04 PM
<dmiles> ... yes.. whenever your onl;y intent was to output it
3:05 PM also reading and taking in input  should be a string