FWIW - you can still get a textual description at <http://www.sqlite.org/syntax.html >...
</jum> Am 20.04.2009 um 15:59 schrieb J. King: > On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:59:02 -0400, Jean-Denis Muys <jdm...@kleegroup.com > > > wrote: > >>> It's a shame: I far preferred the BNF: more compact, not to >>> mention you >>> could copy and paste as well as search the text of the syntax >>> itself. >> >> "shame"? Are you sure that's the word you wanted to use? > > Quite sure, yes. > >> - compactness: very weak argument, maybe even a strawman. > > Merely poorly articulated; my apologies. > >> - copy & paste: the last time I wanted to copy & paste the formal >> syntax >> of >> any language was... about right around when dinosaurs went extinct. > > I've found it useful in helping (remote) colleagues and > acquaintances less > familiar with SQLite. > >> - search: I don't think there is any valid or interesting search of >> BNF >> except for the keywords of the language, which *are* searchable >> with the >> syntax diagrams. > > I've grown very used to using inline searching with my Web browser: > it was > very useful for me to highlight and isolate specific keywords in a > given > syntax definition, as they appear in context. > >> In all these "read-only" situations, you want the grammar to be very >> fast to read and understand. >> >> This is where syntax diagrams excel: the cognitive load to understand >> them is far less than BNF (for the majority of people). > > I must be unusual, then, because I find that a compact representation > allows me to see the whole very quickly, while also being able to > focus on > a single part. Perhaps what trips me up about the current syntax > diagrams > is their two-dimentional nature: thereas the BNF was read linearly, > options in the syntax diagrams are arranged perpendicular to the > flow of > the syntax, and once one runs out of horizontal space for the diagram > (which seems to happen faster with such images and cannot be > alleviated by > increasing one's line length) the directions of the lines and arrows > can > get fairly difficult to decypher. > > That the BNF was expressed in colour-coded text helped considerably > also: > could this not be done with the syntax diagrams (assuming it can be > done > in such a way that they don't end up looking gaudy)? > > Obviously this is all a matter of personal preference, and my aim > was not > to start an argument by expressing mine, Jean-Denis. If I am among > the > minority, so be it. Fortunately I am by now sufficiently familiar > with > SQLite's syntax that the diagrams suffice when I need a refresher. :) > > -- > J. King > _______________________________________________ > sqlite-users mailing list > sqlite-users@sqlite.org > http://sqlite.org:8080/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sqlite-users _______________________________________________ sqlite-users mailing list sqlite-users@sqlite.org http://sqlite.org:8080/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sqlite-users
