Andy's comments and positioning...

[Frank Leahy]

On Sunday, February 8, 2004, at 10:58  PM, 
use-revolution-request at lists.runrev.com wrote:

> On Sunday, February 8, 2004, at 01:15 PM, Frank Leahy wrote:
>
>> x = y + z (instead of put y + z into x)
>> x += 1 (instead of add 1 to x)
>> x.myProperty = foo (instead of set myProperty of x to foo)
>>
>> Not supporting these standard statements make the language look a bit
>> "beginner-ish".
>
> I disagree.  This is archaic C syntax.  The '=' runs foul to math
> syntax.  C has been the ball and chain of programming language
> development and we should not willingly adopt its syntax.


x = y + z has nothing to do with C, it's standard mathematics notation. 
Every language that I've ever used, C, C++, Java, Eiffel, Perl, VB, 
ASP, PHP, Lingo -- with the singular exception of xTalk -- uses x = y + 
z instead of "put".

 >Good grief...you're asking them to rewrite the parser for
 >appearances? Wouldn't that add another layer of abstraction and slow
 >it down? I think there are far more important issues than to make the
 >language "look" like Basic and C.

Adding support for this syntax would require minimal changes to the 
parser (and if they're using something like YACC, no changes to the 
parser as they'll simply change the grammar input).  It will have zero 
impact on performance.

-- Frank