On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 8:04 PM, Shawn H Corey <shawnhco...@gmail.com> wrote: > Matthew Walton wrote: >> >> On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 1:22 PM, Shawn H Corey <shawnhco...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >>> >>> So, I'll ask again: Where in the official documentation does it state >>> that >>> Perl 6 names are case sensitive? >> >> I think it's more important to ask where it says that they aren't. >> >> 1) Perl 5 is case sensitive, and the original Apocalypses ran on the >> basis of 'if it's not mentioned it's the same as Perl 5' >> 2) The spec assigns no meaning to identifier characters, it just >> allows you to use a certain set of them. They mean nothing to the >> language, therefore it has no concept of case to be insensitive about >> 3) Most popular programming languages are also case-sensitive >> >> Maybe it should be explicitly mentioned somewhere, but I think it's a >> reasonable default assumption. Programmers know that >> case-insensitivity is a special form of string comparison which >> involves lots of extra work, so tend to assume (at least in my >> experience) that it's not going to happen unless they actually ask for >> it. >> > > You're looking at it from the point of view of experienced programmers. > What if the person is a high-school student learning Perl 6 as their first > programming language? (And yes, I take the point of view that any computer > language that a high-school student can not learn is useless.)
If a high-school student assumes case-insensitive identifiers and codes accordingly, the compiler's soon going to tell them they're doing something wrong. Besides, their book will probably mention it (see below). > It's fine to assume that anyone who reads the Apocalypses is a very > experienced programmer but when it comes to the official documentation, such > things should be explicitly stated. By now, the documentation should be > reaching its final stages. Yes, it's a finicky little detail but > programming is all about getting the finicky little details right. The spec, in parts, is in its final stages (in other parts, it very much isn't). The spec is not user documentation. Most of that hasn't been written yet.
