List Function Syntax

Question

I feel so stupid asking some of these questions because I
just came out of a semester of Director MX2004 and I feel like I
should know this...but it really wasn't addressed in class.
I'm trying to make Director check a list for a set of items.
For example, a list of numbers [1,3,4,1,1,6]. I want the program to
check for a specific set of numbers [1,1,1] so that it will trigger
a specific response. I know how to trigger the response using an on
mouseUp handler, but I can't figure out how to make it check for
the sets of numbers I need.
It's a dice game. The player uses a mouse click to roll 6
individual dice. The results (like 1,3,4,1,1,6) show up in text
fields above the roll button. The player then chooses which dice to
keep. From what was kept, the program figures a score and then (if
applicable) gives the player a chance to roll again with the
remaining dice. What the player keeps from the second roll is added
to the first score.
I can make it roll [random(6)] and put the result into the
field and I can even make it add all the field contents to a
list...but I can't make it check the list for patterns.
Am I making any sense at all? I feel like someone's going to
say "go back to the sandbox, little girl, you don't have enough
experience to be here" but I'm too frustrated not to ask.
Taking a Risk,
Shadowhawk's serenity

Answer 1

Handler: a separate chunk of code that you can execute. In
other programming languages it might be called a method or a
function.
Parameter: an item of data that you send to a handler. In
other languages, this might be called an attribute.
In my example "FindPatternInList()" is a handler, and "aList"
and "aPattern" are parameters.
Depending on what type of data you pass as a parameter, the
data may be the original data or a copy. The technical terms are
"reference" and "value". If you pass a list as a parameter to a
handler, Director will pass the original list. Any changes to that
list in the handler will affect the list anywhere else it is
referred to. Lists are "passed by reference".
Strings, on the other hand, are "passed by value". Director
will make a copy of the string and the handler will work on that
copy. The original string will not be affected.
Suppose you want to change the original string. In that case,
you must return the modified copy. Example:
aString = "This is "
aString = Concatenate(aString, "a string") -- the equals sign
places a new value in aString
put aString
-- "This is a string"
The Concatenate() handler might look like this:
on Concatenate(aString1, aString2)
put aString2 after aString1
return aString1
end
If you comment out the line "return aString1" above, then
aString will become <Void>, as no value will be returned from
the Concatenate() handler.
Variable names (and parameters are variables) are merely
human-readable labels that refer to the place in the computer's
Random Access Memory (RAM) where the beginning of a particular
piece of data is stored. When you pass a list as a parameter,
Director actually passes this memory address. You can thus have two
or more variables which "point" to the same chunk of memory. If you
use one variable to change the data at that memory address, the
other variable will instantly see the same change.
This is true of all "objects": lists, points, rects,
instances of Parent Scripts, images, sprites, members, colors and
so on are all objects.
Strings, floating point numbers and integers are not objects.
They are "primitives". When a primitive is passed to a handler,
Director copies the data from its current memory address and
creates a new copy at a new memory address. Because both objects
and primitives look like variable names, it is not immediately
evident whether the data is an object being passed by reference or
a non-object being passed by value.