// use auto-operator
static L<S> ai_operands(S s) {
  ret ai_operands(ai_getOperator(s), s);
}

static L<S> ai_operands(L<S> operator, S s) {
  L<S> tok = javaTokPlusBracketsC_unquote(s);
  assertSameLength(operator, tok);
  new L<S> operands;
  for i over operator:
    if (isStar(operator.get(i)))
      operands.add(tok.get(i));
  ret operands;
}

Began life as a copy of #1013197