Hi,
Up to at least version 0.40.1, [list length] used to output the number of arguments of a list or message (exactly as documented), which means that [walk the dog( had length 2, not 3.
Now, in 0.41-2, it treats the message as a list and outputs the length of the list, that is [walk the dog( has length 3 which is the same as [list walk the dog(
Just compare how the help patch for [list length] behaves in version 0.40.1 and in 0.41.2 (not sure where the change happened).
This new behaviour may perhaps be "better" than the old one (it is more coherent with the behaviour of all other [list] objects which always convert any message to a list), however:
1 - this is DISASTROUS for backward compatibility. Patches written for older versions will behave differently on the new version! 2 - the documentation (help patch) is unchanged, and there is no ambiguity in it: it describes the old behaviour.
Was this change intentional? Is there a reason so good to be worth such a huge break in backward compatibility?
If so, the help patch should be updated.