Is Transcript's English orientation a plus or minus?

[Ed McCabe]

 From: Ed McCabe <isb at macconnect.com>
> Date: 2004/02/11 Wed AM 09:37:31 EST
> To: <use-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
> Subject: <no subject>
> 
> Dan said:
> 
> I've resisted comment as long as I can. It's torture.
> 
> Most of my feelings have been expressed by others, but there is one
> point that I think is perhaps under-appreciated.
> 
> The notion that we should add to the Transcript syntax to make the
> program less "beginnerish" (which I agree it isn't anyway except
> compared to the absolutely incomprehensible C and Perl languages, which
> I few as write-only) just because we *can* misses a key point.
> 
> A new person coming into the environment and looking for how to do
> something looks at scripts and docs. Unless you not only implement new
> and more complex syntax *in addition to* the regular syntax rather than
> instead of it, but also do not document it and discourage its use in
> scripts a newbie is likely to stumble over while learning, you still
> run the risk of alienating new programmers who look at the (let's face
> it) ugly C-like syntax and immediately head for REALBasic. The only
> other alternative, really, is to resort to levels or layers of access
> in a (generally futile but well-intended) effort to hide this stuff
> from people for whom it might be dangerous.
> 
> Nope. I'm with those who say to RunRev, "The syntax is beautiful. We
> don't care if 'real programmers' (whoever *they* are) think it's
> amateurish. We'll be happy to keep making a living by writing apps
> faster and cheaper than all those professionals do because we have a
> language that thinks like we do, not like the compiler does."
> 
> Dan out.
> 
> 
> As an amateur programer/business owner who relies daily on HC stacks which I
> constructed over 10 years ago and am now converting to Rev, I consider one
> of the most important aspects of an high level X-talk script is that when I
> revisit a script  years after I wrote it - I can read it and figure out what
> I did & now need to do to enhance it.
> 
> I would not have had the time or patience to learn a "real programming
> language" and been unable to develop the system I run my business on.
> 
> Now struggling with learning to take my systems onto the internet based on
> the principles so aptly demonstrated at the seminar.
> 
> The quality of the professionals contributing to this list is the best
> endorsement for Rev.
> 
> Well said Dan
> 
> Ed McCabe