On Apr 17, 2019, at 1:07 PM, Guy Steele <guy.ste...@oracle.com> wrote: > String s = “”” > " "I am > " a block of text" > “””; > > You have choices. I’m not entirely sure I like such a design, but I’m > putting it out there for contemplation.
Using the single quotes along the left margin looks intuitive to me, more intuitive than putting in a separate margin character (like '|'). Would it be an error if the left-margin quotes were indented at different levels? Or would it be a feature (to be used sparingly if ever)? Same question if the left-margin quotes are indented differently from the final close-quote. Also, is a left-margin quote allowed immediately before the close-quote? Is it required? If allowed and not required, this basically means such a string can end with either three or four close-quotes. If we were to allow this noisy-and-explicit marker for the left margin of the ML string, would we *also* want the less-noisy-and-less-explicit mechanism of trimming as much leading space as possible (the Jim and Brian alignment)? Would having two ways to express the same thing be stylistic freedom, or just the awkward product of a committee design? If the latter, which of the two designs do we prefer, slick and ambiguous or clear and crusty? — John
